Execution of 9 Prisoners in Qazalhessar by Islamic Republic Judicial Authorities

Islamic Republic judicial authorities executed at least 9 prisoners in Qazalhessar prison in Alborz province early Wednesday morning. According to reports from human rights sources, the Iranian government has intensified executions in recent months. The media outlet of the Human Rights Activists in Iran reported on Wednesday, December 21, that at least 9 prisoners were executed in Qazalhessar prison early that day. This human rights organization claims to have verified the identities of five of the executed individuals. According to the report, Ahmad Jahankhani was executed for murder, while Naser Takhtchi, Iman Moghaddam, Rahman Sarlak, and Abdollah Tajik were executed for drug-related charges. The report also states that one of the executed individuals, Abdollah Tajik, was a citizen of Afghanistan. Based on a previous report from this human rights organization, Qazalhessar prison officials had transferred these prisoners to solitary confinement on Tuesday for the execution. The execution of these 9 prisoners has not yet been announced by official sources. Human rights activists Parastoo Fatemi and Atefeh Daneshgar criticized the inaction of Western countries regarding the increasing number of executions by the Islamic Republic in Iran. Members of the 'Tuesdays Against Execution' campaign issued a statement on the occasion of 'International Human Rights Day,' describing the 'Velayat-e Faqih' regime as a 'record holder for gross human rights violations in the world' and called for expanding this struggle into a 'more widespread, collective, and united movement' to 'disarm the rulers from this criminal weapon.' Political prisoners involved in the 'Tuesdays Against Execution' campaign have repeatedly emphasized that the issuance and execution of the death penalty by the Islamic Republic is intended to instill fear in Iranian society. Additionally, political prisoners Reza Mohammadi, Arsham Rezaei, and Zartosht Ahmadinejad, members of this campaign, stated in a message received by Voice of America that besides executions in Iran, the Islamic Republic is one of the largest violators of human rights in the world due to its warmongering in the region and support for terrorism. In recent weeks, several United Nations experts, coinciding with the International 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 individuals in the month of October alone, from October 1 to November 1. According to Amnesty International, the Islamic Republic is responsible for 74% of the world's executions in 2023.