Unnamed Man Executed for Drug Charges in Minab

According to the Judiciary’s Mizan news agency, a man was executed in Minab Prison (Hormozgan province) on 23 September. The unnamed man was sentenced to death for charges of “efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) through armed possession of drug that led to murder of policeman.”

The report states that the defendant had killed a policeman in the course of drug smuggling on 11 April 2023.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year for the past three years. At least 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. On 13 February 2023, IHRNGO reported a 94% rise in the number of drug-related executions in the year following the start of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in September 2022.