Baluch Prisoners Saeed Sadeghi and Zakaria Baluch Executed

According to the Baluch Activists Campaign, a Baluch man was executed in Zahedan Central Prison on the morning of October 19. His identity has been reported as Zakaria Baluch who was sentenced to death on drug-related charges in 2018.

An informed source was reported as saying: “Zakaria picked up a passenger in his own car and was driving him across the city with his belongings in Zakaria’s car boot when the police stopped them on suspicion. The passenger escaped as the police were approaching his car. The police found the drugs in his boot when they searched the car.”

According to the report, Zakaria had repeatedly maintained his innocence in court.

Another Baluch man was executed in Saravan Prison on October 19. His identity has been reported as Saeed Sadeghi who was sentenced to qisas for murder.

An informed source said: “Saeed was arrested and sentenced to death on charges of murder 20 years ago, which was carried out this morning.”

At the time of writing, neither of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

According to Iran Human Rights’ Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, at least 25 people were executed on drug-related charges in 2020. However, at least 93 people have so far been executed on the same charge in 2021.

On May 3, IHR published a report on the death penalty in the first four months of 2021 expressing concern at the significant increase in the number of drug-related executions and continues to warn of the continuation of this trend.