Baluch Allah Nazar Esmailzehi Executed for Drug Charges in Damghan

According to the Baluch Activists Campaign, a Baluch man was executed Damghan Prison in Semnan province on May 31. His identity has been reported as 33-year-old Allah Nazar Esmailzehi from Zahedan who was sentenced to death for drug-related charges.

He was not in possession of any drugs when arrested by Semnan traffic police in January 2019.

An informed source said: “The drugs that were registered to have belonged to Allah Nazar were discovered in an empty car the day after his arrest and had nothing to do with him. He was tortured by prison officials to make him accept the charges and force him into claiming the drugs belonged to him.”

At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

According to reports compiled by Iran Human Rights, at least 126 people were executed on drug-related charges in 2021, a fivefold increase compared to drug executions in the previous three years. None of the 2021 drug-related executions were reported by official sources.

Data gathered by Iran Human Rights also shows that Baluch prisoners accounted for 21% of all executions in 2021, while only representing 2–6% of Iran’s population.