Baluch Farajollah Khashi and Hamed Shehbakhsh Executed in Bam and Kerman

According to Haal Vsh, a Baluch man was executed in Kerman Central Prison on 13 August. His identity has been reported as 47-year-old Farajollah Khashi (left photo) who was sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

Another Baluch man named Hamed Shehbakhsh (right photo), 28 years old, was executed in Bam Prison for the same charges on 14 August.

An informed source is quoted as saying: “Farajollah was going to Kerman for medical treatment with one of his friends when they were stopped and drugs were found in the car which he wasn’t aware of. Yet, he was sentenced to death with a two-degree reduction. He was executed while his case was still being processed by the Kerman Amnesty Commission.”

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. In the first six months of 2024, at least 147 people were executed for the charges.

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.”