3 Baluch Men Executed in Yazd

According to Haal Vsh, three Baluch men were executed in Yazd Central Prison on 5th November. Mohsen Nejadi Moghaddam (photo), around 30 years old, and one of the unidentified men were on death row for drug-related charges. The third man was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

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.

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.”