4 Men at Risk of Execution in Shiraz

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were transferred to solitary confinement on 14 August in preparation for their executions in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison.

Two of the men who are on death row for drug-related charges have been identified as Yousef Kazemzaedeh and Ali Salimi. The other two men who were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, have been identified as Heydar Arab and Morteza Ardakani.

They are scheduled to be executed within hours.

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.