Hassan Zarei and Baluch Lal Mohammad Shirzayi Executed in Minab

According to Hal Vash, two Baluch men were executed in Minab Prison on 3 May. Their identities have been reported as Lal Mohammad Shirzayi Barahouyi and Hassan Zarei who were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Courts.

Lal Mohammad Shirzayi Barahouyi was 43 and a Baluch father of two children. He was a Zahedan native but resided in Galikesh.

An informed source quoted in the report, said: “Lal Mohammad was arrested in Minab three years ago and sentenced to death by the Minab Revolutionary Court. He was his family’s breadwinner. His brother Mahmood Shirzayi Barahouyi was executed for drug charges in Gonbad prison six years ago. Hassan was arrested for drug charges in Minab as well. He was sentenced to death by the Minab Revolutionary Court a year after his arrest.”

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

In the last five days, at least 13 Baluch men and women have been executed in Zahedan, Birjand, Mashhad, Bandarabbas,  Iranshahr and Minab prisons.

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).