At Least 8 Drug Death Row Inmates Including Afghan Nationals at Risk of Execution in Karaj

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least eight prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions in Qezel Hesar Prison on 30 September. The unidentified prisoners were all sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court. There are several Afghan nationals amongst them.

They are scheduled to be executed in the following days.

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 September 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.