At Least 3 Men Executed in Shiraz

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least three men were executed in Shiraz Central Prison on 30 October. Three of the men’s identities have been established as 31-year-old Shahab Sadeghzadeh, 35-year-old Mansour Taghvayi, both Arsanjan natives and Heidar Salkhordeh from Shiraz.

According to Hengaw which first published news of Shahab and Mansour’s executions, the two men were arrested and sentenced to death in the same case. They were accused of carrying 85 kilograms of methamphetamine and heroine.

Heidar Salkhordeh was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or circumstances due to a lack of grading in law. Once a defendant has been convicted, as the plaintiffs, the victim’s family are required to choose between death as retribution, diya (blood money) or forgiveness.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year for the past three years. At least 305 people were executed for drug-related charges between 1 January-10 October 2023, a 69% increase compared to the same period in 2022, and the number of drug-related executions in 2023 were close to 20 times higher than 2020.

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.