Afshin Joshani and Taher Arefi Executed in Shiraz

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Shiraz Central Prison (Adel Abad) on 12 November. Their executions have been established as 30-year-old Taher Arefi (photo) and Afshin Joshani who were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Taher Arefi was from Shushtar and had been arrested for drug-related charges two years ago. Afshin Joshani had been transferred to Adel Abad prison from another prison and was reportedly from Morourdasht.”

IHRNGO previously reported the executions of Vahid Salemi and Behrouz Dinarbar at the prison that day.

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

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.