At Least 3 Including Woman Executed in Rasht

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least two men and a woman were executed in Rasht (Lakan) Central Prison on 7th November. The two men have been identified as 32-year-old Sadegh Khorshidi from Lahijan (photo) and Mohammad Majid Jamali who were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court. They were on death row for three and four years respectively.

The unidentified woman was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. She is the 22nd woman execution recorded by IHRNGO.

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.”