Baluch Abdolrahman Mousazehi, Jalal Rigi and 3 Unidentifed Men Executed in Hormozgan

According to ISNA, five men were executed in Bandarabbas Central Prison and Minab Prison in Hormozgan province on 15 May. Official media have not named the men who were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

Hal Vash, which reports news and human rights violations in Sistan and Baluchistan province has identified two of the executed men as 37-year-old Abdolrahman Mousazehi from Zahedan and Jalal Rigi (Barahouyi) from Mirjaveh. The two men were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions on 13 May.

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 the 2022 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, 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).