The Judiciary of the Islamic Republic Executes Two Prisoners in Yazd and Urmia

News sources reported the execution of at least two prisoners related to drug offenses and 'rape' in the cities of Urmia and Yazd. Human rights sources consider the Islamic Republic to be the largest executing government in the world. According to HRANA, the media organ of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic executed a prisoner named Mohammad Dagestani early Wednesday, August 31, on drug-related charges at Urmia Central Prison. Additionally, the state news agency Mizan, affiliated with the judiciary, quoted Hossein Tahmasbi, the head of the Yazd judiciary, stating that 'a man has been executed in Yazd,' but did not disclose the exact date and location of the execution. Tahmasbi claimed that the executed individual was a 'fortune teller' who 'deceived' clients and 'assaulted women and girls under false pretenses.' According to this judicial official, the individual was arrested in 2020 and sentenced to death by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Yazd, with the sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic. In recent days, human rights organizations have warned about the increasing number of executions by the judiciary in Iran. Nahid Naghashbandi, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated that while the Islamic Republic's recent presidential elections are touted as evidence of real change, many executions are being carried out. Mahmoud Amiri Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, emphasized that 'more than one execution is carried out every six hours in Iran,' and that the formation of 'a sustainable campaign and a public movement' is 'the only way to stop the execution machine of the Islamic Republic and abolish this inhumane punishment.' According to this human rights activist, 'the Islamic Republic is the largest executioner in the world' and 'with the campaign of No to Executions Tuesdays, Iran has become the forefront of the fight against executions.'