Kurdish Sajad Bandegi and Afghan Abdolrahman Tajik Executed in Karaj

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least two men were executed in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj on 11 September. One of the men has been identified as Sajad Bandegi, a 35-year-old Kurdish man from Kermanshah who was on death row for drug-related charges for 10 years.

HRANA news agency reported the second man’s identity as Abdolrahman Tajik, an Afghan national who was also sentenced to death for drug-related offences.

At the time of writing, their executions have not 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. In the first six months of 2024, at least 147 people were executed for the charges.