6 Men Executed for Murder and Drug Charges in Ardabil

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Ardabil Central Prison on 4 January. Their identities have been established as Soheil Jalvaran and Hojat Kalkhoran who were both arrested for drug-related charges in separate cases three years ago and sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.

On 27 December 2023, four other men were executed at the prison. Their identities have been established as Yasin Khodakarami and Alireza Nejati who were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder in the same case. Jebreil Fadayi, a Baluch man from Saravan and Ali Zaman Khani were on death row for drug-related charges.

On 3 January, state media reported the execution of three unnamed men for drug-related charges. IHRNGO has established their identities as Naser Peydayi, 48-year-old Mohammad Nadiri and Farzad Mohammadi.

According to informed sources, Farzad Mohammadi suffered from mental health disorders and was under medical care. He was unwell prior to arrest and was on medication.

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.