2 Men Including Afghan National Executed in Yazd

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Yazd Central Prison on 28 November. Their identities have been established as Esmail Barekzaei (left photo), an Afghan national, and 33-year-old Rahim Esmailpour (right photo). They were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Esmail Barekzaei was from Farah city in Afghanistan was around 18 at the time of his alleged offence. He lived in Meybod with his sister and brother and was accused of killing somone in a street fight. Rahim Esmailpour was from Ardakan and was transferred to Yazd Central prison from Ardakan Prison for execution.”

Two Baluch men named Davoud Mohammadi Takhtshah and Osman Dahmardeh were reported to have been executed at the prison that day, bringing the total number to four.

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or circumstances due to a lack of grading in law. Once a defendant has been convicted, the victim’s family are required to choose between death as retribution, diya (blood money) or forgiveness. Crucially, while an indicative amount is set by the Judiciary every year, there is no legal limit to how much can be demanded by families of the victims. IHRNGO has recorded many cases where defendants are executed because they cannot afford to pay the blood money.

In 2023, at least 282 people including two juvenile offenders and 15 women, were executed for murder charges, the second highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 20% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2023, Iran Human Rights also recorded 857 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.

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.”