Three Baluch Including a Woman Executed in Birjand

According to Hal Vash, three Baluch minorities including a woman were executed in Birjand Central Prison on 30 April. They were all sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Courts.

One of the men has been named as 33-year-old Mohammad Shibak from the Karim Abad region of Zahedan.

An informed source quoted in the report, said: “Mohammad was arrested for drug charges at a check point with another person in South Khorasan province three years ago. He was sentenced to death by the Birjand Revolutionary Court and his sentence was carried out today without his family being notified and last family visit.”

The other man and woman have not been named in the report.

At the time of writing, none of the executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Ethnic minorities, the Baluch in particular, are grossly overrepresented in execution numbers in Iran. In 2022, at least 174 Baluch minorities including 3 women, were executed in 22 prisons across Iran, making up 30% of overall executions. This is while they represent just 2-6% of Iran’s population.

Baluch minorities also represented almost half of drug-related executions in 2022. 47.3% of the 256 people executed for drug-related charges were Baluch.

According to reports gathered by Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), at least 256 people were executed for drug-related offences in 2022, a more than two-fold increase compared to 2021 (126) and ten times more than 2020 (25).

UPDATE: The unidentified man and woman have been identified as Abdollah Zarouzehi and Madineh Sabzevan.