Execution of Four Prisoners in Urmia Prison; Parvin Mousavi's Sentence Carried Out Despite 'Promise of Amnesty'

The Hengaw Human Rights Organization reported the execution of three male prisoners and one female prisoner on Friday in Urmia Prison, linking their sentences to drug-related offenses. Hengaw identified the four executed prisoners as Parvin Mousavi, Youssef Saeidi-Chahreh, Ramin Loundi, and Mansour Naseri, hailing from the cities of Maragheh, Urmia, and Boukan, respectively. Sara Sadeghi Hamadani, a former cellmate of Parvin Mousavi, emphasized in an interview with Voice of America that Mousavi was 'innocent' and had been promised freedom. Sadeghi added that although Parvin Mousavi was charged with drug-related offenses, she was the third defendant in a case where the first defendant was executed and the second, despite having a criminal record, was acquitted and released from prison. According to her, Parvin Mousavi was suffering from cancer, had no previous record of drug-related activities, and had denied all charges against her, with prison officials having promised her release. The 'Iran Human Rights Monitoring' organization described the rise in executions in the Islamic Republic as 'very concerning,' stating that prisoners related to drug offenses often come from the outskirts of cities and impoverished segments of society, being sentenced to death in an unfair judicial process, while according to international laws, drug-related crimes should not be subject to the death penalty. Republican lawmakers Steve Cohen and Tom McClintock, co-chairs of the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, condemned the rise in executions in Iran as being 'directly ordered by Ali Khamenei.'