Baluch Kambiz Barzekar and Malek Baluch Mahani Executed in Kerman

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two Baluch men were executed in Kerman Central Prison on 6 June. Their identities have been established as 28-year-old Kambiz Barzekar (photo) and 40-year-old Malek Baluch Mahani. They were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court in the same case.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “They were arrested three years ago and had been on death row since. Kambiz was innocent and had been arrested a week after the drugs were seized. The drugs had nothing to do with him.”

Hal Vash which first reported news of their executions wrote: “Kambiz Barzekar’s father was killed by bullets fired directly at him by military forces seven years ago.”

At the time of writing, their executions have 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.

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).

On 1 June, Iran Human Rights reported at least 307 executions in 2023. May was also reported as the most bloody month in ten years, with at least 142 executions.