3 Men Including Afghan National Executed in Taybad

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least three men were executed in Taybad Prison in Khorasan Razavi province on 21 April. Two of the men’s identities have been established as 38-year-old Mohammad Amin Mohammadpour from Kish and 35-year-old Esmail Esmailzadeh (photo) from Taybad. They were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

The identity of the third man who was an Afghan national has not been established at the time of writing

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Mohammad Amin Mohammadpour was a father of two who was arrested for drug charges three years ago. Esmail Esmailzadeh was arrested for the same charges four years ago.

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

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2023 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 471 people were executed for drug-related charges, an 84% increase compared to 2022 (256) and about 18 times the average of drug-related executions in 2018-2020. Baluch minorities who constitute 2-6% of Iran’s population, made up 30% of drug executions in 2023.

On 10 April 2024, 80+ Iranian and international organisations and groups called for joint action to stop drug-related executions, urging UNODC to make “any cooperation with the Islamic Republic contingent on a complete halt on drug-related executions.

It is important to note that Afghan nationals constitute the largest group of non-Iranian executions and death row cases in Iranian prisons. The number of their executions have been steadily rising since the Taliban takeover in 2021. At least five Afghan nationals were executed in 2021 which more than tripled in 2022, with 16 Afghan nationals including a juvenile offender and a woman executed. In 2023, at least 25 Afghans were executed, a 56% rise compared to the previous year. The unidentified Afghan man is the 10th Afghan national executed in 2024.