Hamidreza Khodabandeh and 4 Unidentified Men Executed in Shiraz

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, five men were executed in Shiraz Central Prison (Adel Abad) on 1 October. One of the men has been identified as Hamidreza Khodabandeh Farsimdan Qashqai who was sentenced to death for charges of efsad-fil arz (corruption on earth) and moharebeh (enmity against god). The identities and charges against the other four men have not been established at the time of writing.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Hamidreza Khodabandeh was arrested in Shiraz a year and a half years ago during an armed operation and took 3 weapons from him. He was a Qashaqi Turk and was executed on the anniversary of Khosrow Qashqai’s execution.* They chose that day because Qashqai people have been involved in clashes with state forces in the last two weeks and one Qashqai was killed and several state forces injured. He had rape charges in his case which wasn’t true, there wasn’t a complainant. They’d promised to exile him to Zahedan but suddenly contacted his family two days ago to come for their last visit. He was executed along with four others yesterday.

At the time of writing, none of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Due to their vague definitions, the charges of moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) are used for a wide range of offences. Additionally, as they are within the Revolutionary Courts’ jurisdiction, there is considerable subjectivity in the judgements made in the cases.

Efsad-fil-arz has been used by Revolutionary Court judges, particularly in cases where a death sentence would otherwise be difficult to justify based on other charges and irrefutable evidence. In 2022, at least 15 people were executed for security-related charges compared to 13 in 2021, 15 in 2020 and 9 in 2019.

*Khosrow Qashqai was a Qashqai leader and Parliamentarian who was executed on 1 October 1982.