3 Men at Imminent Risk of Execution in Karaj

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions in Karaj Penitentiary. Their identities have been established as Manouchehr Barzegar and Mojtaba Amiri from Hall 3 and Mehdi Moradi from Hall 4.

All three men are on death row for drug-related charges and are scheduled to be executed tomorrow morning.

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.