Execution of 8 Prisoners by Iranian Judicial Authorities

Human rights organizations reported that amid a wave of executions in Iran, judicial authorities executed at least eight prisoners in various prisons in Tabriz, Isfahan, Birjand, and Zahedan. According to reports from human rights sources on Tuesday, December 19, three prisoners were executed in Zahedan, one in Isfahan, three in Tabriz, and one in Birjand, all on charges related to murder and drug offenses. The 'Halosh' website reported that early on Tuesday, December 19, judicial authorities in Zahedan executed three prisoners named Khodabakhsh Qanbarzahi (Barahui), 40 years old and father of eight children, Omid Hassan-Zai, 33 years old with one child, and a prisoner with the last name Rakhshani in connection with drug-related crimes. Simultaneously, the Iran Human Rights Organization reported that on Tuesday, December 19, judicial authorities executed a prisoner named Morteza Qasemi, 38 years old, in Isfahan's Dastgerd prison on the charge of 'murder.' This human rights organization also reported that on the early morning of Sunday, December 18, a prisoner named Abdolghafour Razm-Dideh Rigi, 45 years old, was 'secretly' executed in Birjand Central Prison in connection with drug-related crimes. The Iran Human Rights Organization also announced that on Tuesday, December 13, three men were executed in Tabriz Central Prison, two of whom were identified as Khalil Hassan-Zadeh, 33 years old, and Abdollah Panahi, 62 years old, related to murder charges, and Rasoul Ebrahimi concerning drug-related charges. Official and governmental sources have not yet announced the execution of these prisoners. In recent weeks, several United Nations experts, coinciding with the World Day Against the Death Penalty, expressed concern over the increasing number of executions in Iran and called for an immediate halt to them. A human rights group previously announced that the Islamic Republic executed 166 people in October alone, from October 1 to November 1, 2023. According to Amnesty International, the Islamic Republic is responsible for 74% of the world's executions in 2023. Political prisoners involved in the 'No to Execution Tuesdays' campaign have repeatedly emphasized that the issuance and execution of death sentences by the Islamic Republic aim to instill fear and terror in Iranian society. The issuance and execution of death sentences under the title of 'Qisas Nafs' in the Islamic Republic of Iran occur under conditions where, according to governmental laws, murder is not graded, and 'any type of murder, regardless of the severity and motivation of the accused, leads to a death sentence.' Executions of prisoners related to drug offenses have steadily increased over the past four years by the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic, as reported by the Iran Human Rights Organization, with the number of executions in the last year reaching '471 executions,' an 84% increase compared to the previous year. Previously, Maya Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, criticized the human rights situation and the increasing number of executions in the Islamic Republic's prisons and called for a reduction in the issuance of death sentences in Iran.