Iran: Three prisoners executed at Rajai Shahr Prison in the outskirts of Karaj

Based on information from Iran Human Rights (IHR) sources, three prisoners held at Rajai Shahr Prison were executed on the morning of 3 October 2018. As part of a group of 14 prisoners, the three inmates who had previously been found guilty of murder were moved to solitary confinement on Monday, October 2nd, in preparation for their execution.

Their identities were given as Mahmood Akbari, Yasser Eslami, Omid Khosronejad. Mahmood Akbari had committed murder in a street fight.

Moreover, with regard to Yasser Shahbazi and Omid Khosronejad, a source informed Iran Human Rights that: “These two inmates who are guilty of the same crime committed murder in defence of their honour.”

Ali Iranshahi, Mahmud Qorbani, Majeed Abedi and Masood Maqsoodi had also been moved to solitary confinement in preparation of their execution but were returned to their cells after being granted a reprieve by their plaintiffs. The execution of two other inmates held at Rajai Shahr Prison,  Reza Wazefi and Hossein Golpa, was postponed as the claimants had failed to appear at the prison. Two other inmates, Mehdi Danesh and Ali Asqarqolami, were likewise moved to solitary confinement but spared execution with the claimants’ consent.

At the time of writing this article, Iran’s domestic media networks had not published any news on the fate of these prisoners.

So far, the highest number of executions in 2018 were for murder and at Rajai Shahr Prison.