Four Men Executed for Drug Charges in Kerman

According to Hal Vash, four men including three Baluch men were executed in Kerman Central Prison on 18 June. The three Baluch men’s identities have been reported as” Gholam Mir from Zabol and a Zahedan native, Mohammad Sepahi from Saravan and 35-year-old Fazl Ahmad Ghafran (AKA Yousef Rakhshani).

Mohammad Sepahi had three children and Fazl Ahmad Ghafran was a father of two.

The report does not specify the name or charges against the fourth man.

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.