Judiciary Denies Death Sentences for One to Two Thousand People in 'Delfan'

On Thursday, December 30, the General Directorate of Justice of Lorestan Province denied the statements made by a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly from Delfan regarding the issuance of death sentences for 'one thousand to two thousand people' in this city. Yahya Ebrahimi, in a video released on Wednesday, December 29, reported on the 'issuance of death sentences for one thousand to two thousand people' from Delfan on charges of drug trafficking. In this video, which circulated in some media outlets in Iran and on social networks, he stated that these individuals are at the stage of execution of sentences. Ebrahimi, in this video published on websites like 'Entekhab' and 'Didban Iran', did not specify the duration of the death sentences and mentioned that he had requested the head of the judiciary to prevent the execution of these sentences in a letter. This member of parliament added: 'I am truly affected by this situation, both for myself and for the officials who have facilitated the commission of crimes and these executions over the past 44 years.' In this regard, according to ISNA news agency, the Lorestan judiciary stated in a statement that 'the announced figures are not only completely false but also far from reality.' The statement did not provide any statistics on the matter and noted: 'It is unclear how the mentioned representative received and expressed such false information and statistics.' Delfan County in Lorestan Province has a population of 145,000 and an unemployment rate of over 25%. The 'misery index' for all of Iran in the year 1401 was over 67% in Lorestan Province, while this index was about 54.8% for all of Iran. The Iran Human Rights Organization reported on Wednesday that six prisoners were executed on drug-related charges, noting that the execution of prisoners sentenced for 'drug-related' offenses has continuously and sharply increased over the past three years. According to this human rights organization, this year, compared to the first six months of 2022, when 91 people were executed on drug-related charges, there has been a 126% increase, with 206 executions recorded for this charge. Airstrikes in Jordan targeted a drug caravan; traffickers were linked to militias affiliated with the Islamic Republic. The United Nations General Assembly condemned widespread human rights violations by the Islamic Republic by passing a resolution. The trend of increasing executions in Iran continues; three prisoners were executed in Shiraz and five in Karaj.