Afghan Jahedollah Marouf Executed in Isfahan

According to Iran Human Rights, an Afghan man was executed in Isfahan Central Prison on 15 July. His identity has been established as Jahedollah Marouf who was sentenced to death for drug-related charges and to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

It is not clear whether he was executed for the murder or drug charges.

At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

 An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Jahedollah Marouf was transferred for execution from the foreign ward. Around 250-300 prisoners are held in the foreign ward, the majority of whom are Afghan and Pakistani. The majority of them are on death row and most of them are for drug charges.”

“There are two men in the ward named Jalal Amanedin and Shafi Amanedin who are from Jalal Abad in Afghanistan. They’re uncle and nephew and were arrested nearly two years ago and sentenced to death for drug-related charges. Jalal, the nephew was sentenced to death despite being 17 years old at the time of arrest,” the source added.

It is important to note that Afghan nationals constitute the largest group of non-Iranian executions and death row cases in Iranian prisons. In 2021, no execution of Afghan nationals was recorded until September, when five men were executed in the space of 35 days. On 10 October 2021, Iran Human Rights expressed its concern that the Taliban takeover in August had facilitated the execution of Afghan nationals. That number more than tripled in 2022, with 16 Afghan nationals including a juvenile offender and a woman executed. At least nine Afghans have been executed in 2023 so far, with two publicly hanged on 8 July.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year for the past three years. 206 people were executed for drug-related charges in the first six months of 2023, a 126% rise compared to the same period in 2022 when 91 were executed. 40 people were executed in the same period in 2021.

The number of drug executions dramatically dropped in 2018 following a 2017 Amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Laws. Consequently, drug executions ranged between 24-30 per annum between 2018-2020. The Amendment was reversed in practice in 2021 when executions increased ten-fold to 126 in 2021 and doubled again in 2022 with 256 drug-related executions.