Baluch Meisam Chandani Executed in Zahedan

According to Haal Vsh, a Baluch man was executed in Zahedan Central Prison on 11 November. His identity has been reported as Meisam Chandani (Dehghani) who was sentenced to death for charges of moharebeh through armed action, membership in opposition groups (Jondollah) and action against national security.

He was arrested on 28 August 2011. Informed sources said: “Meisam endured a year of physical and psychological torture in the Intelligence’s detention centre in Zahedan. They used the “miracle bed” (prisoners are tied to a metal bed and lashed with a fan belts until they confess) and flogging and beating him with cables and plastic pipes. It caused him severe mental illness and memory loss, he’d lost his mental balance.”

Meisam Chandani was transferred from the Security Ward (9) of the prison for execution. There is no news about the fate of a murder death row prisoner transferred with Meisam.

Tasnim news agency has reported his execution without naming him. According to their report, the defendant was arrested for the murder of three policemen in 2011.

Ethnic minorities, the Baluch in particular, are grossly overrepresented in execution numbers in Iran. In 2022, at least 174 Baluch minorities including 3 women, were executed in 22 prisons across Iran, making up 30% of overall executions. This is while they represent just 2-6% of Iran’s population. Furthermore, at least 274 Baluch people have been executed for drug-related charges since 2021, 40% of all drug executions in that time period.