Group Hanging of at Least 6 Men Including Afghan National in Karaj

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least six men were executed in a group hanging in Ghezelhesar Prison on 18 November. Four of the men were sentenced to death for drug-related offences. Their identities have been established as Abdolbari Pakouhi, an Afghan national, Hassan Ali Yousefi, Majid Jamshidi (right photo) and Sohrab Amirpour (left photo).

The fifth man who has been identified as Farzad Norouzikhah (centre photo), was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

According to the judiciary’s Mizan news agency, the sixth man was sentenced to the vaguely defined charges of efsad-fil-arz “through terrorising and injuring women in different areas of Tehran.” His identity has been reported as Rastgouyi Kondlaj.

At the time of writing, only Rastgouyi Kondlaj’s execution has 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."