Unidentified Baluch Man Secretly Executed in Shiraz

According to Hal Vash, a Baluch man was secretly executed in Shiraz Central prison on 8 May. The unidentified man was sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

Two other Baluch men, Hossein Shahrouzi and Younes Rigi Rakhshani were previously reported to have been executed at the prison that day. This brings the number of executions that day to three.

An informed source was quoted in the report: “His execution took place without his family being informed. His body is still in the Shiraz Forensic Medical Organisation’s building.”

At the time of writing, his execution has not 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. The unidentified man was the 26th Baluch executed in 12 days.

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).