Iran: At Least 19 Executions in Shiraz; 15 Executions Scheduled in 2 Weeks

After reporting on the execution of four men in Shiraz Central Prison, Iran Human Rights has obtained new information that at least 15 others were executed at the prison between 9-17 March 2022.

Two men were executed in Shiraz Central Prison on the morning of March 17. The identities of the men who were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) in the same murder case has been established as Massoud Ghoroobi and Gholamhossein Sadri. The two men had been in prison for around five years.

According to an informed source: “The two prisoners had gone to Shiraz from Ajab Shir (East Azerbaijan Province) as building contractors. Massoud was a contractor and Gholamhossein was his colleague. They worked for around seven months and received half their contracted fee and the building owner was making their life difficult for the remainder of the money, and after a fight, they struck him with a piece of iron at the building site, resulting in his death.”

On the morning of March 16, four other men were executed at the prison. The men who were all sentence death on drug-related charges have been identified as Ali Sahandi, Mohammad Hossein Sahandi, Sadegh Sahebi and Bashir Kaboli. They were transferred from Ward 10 of the prison for execution.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Ali and Mohammad Hossein Sahandi were related and sentenced to death as defendants in the same case. They were arrested four years ago and had been behind bars since.”

A man and woman who were newlyweds at the time of their arrests were executed on murder charges on March 14. Unidentified at the time of writing, they were sentenced to qisas for murder.

On the morning of March 13, two men were executed on drug-related charges at the prison. One of the men was an Afghan national and has been identified as Najaf Anjom. He was arrested around five years ago and also had firearm possession charges in his case.

Iran Human Rights previously reported that four men had been executed at the prison on drug-related charges that day, which increases the number of executions to six on March 13. 

Another prisoner only identified by his first name, Shahab, was executed at the prison on March 10. He was also sentenced to death on drug-related charges and had been transferred to Shiraz Central Prison from another prison prior to his execution.

Four Baluch men sentenced to death on drug-related charges were also executed at the prison on March 9. Only one of the men has been identified by his surname, Salarzehi.

At least 19 prisoners were executed at Shiraz Central Prison between 9-17 March, none of which have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Sentence Enforcement officials have told 15 other prisoners that their executions will be carried out before the start of Ramadan. The death row inmates charges include murder, drug offences and armed robbery.