Group Hanging of at Least 9 Men in Ghezelhesar Prison

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least nine men were hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison in Alborz province on 1st January. Six of the men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder and three were on death row for drug-related offences.

Two of the men on death row drug-related offences have been identified as Mohammad Hossein Mohammadifar and Saeed Kishi. HRANA news agency reported the third drug death row prisoner’s identity as Pasha (surname unknown) from Afghanistan.

Three of the men on death row for murder have been identified as 43-year-old Ali Vahdani, 37-year-old Hassan Vahdani and 28-year-old Shahram Mahdavi.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Some of the prisoners were transferred from Evin Prison and the Greater Tehran Penitentiary to Ghezelhsar for execution. Mohammad Hossein Mohammadifar was a father of two and had been transferred from Ward 209 of Evin Prison.”

Hengaw quoted a source about the three men on death row for murder: “Ali Vahdan and his cousin Hassan Vahdani were arrested in the same case six years ago. Shahram Mahdavi was arrested three years ago.”

At the time of writing, the six men’s executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Rokna, a state newspaper reported the execution of three other men for murder. One of the men only identified as Arshia, was accused of killing his stepfather on the Emam Ali motorway in December 2022. The second man, an Afghan national only identified as Amir, was accused of killing someone during a fight two years prior. The third man whose identity has not been reported, was accused of killing his brother-in-law over inheritance around two years prior.

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.”

UPDATE, 4 January 2025: The identity of the man accused of killing his stepfather has been established as Arshia Rezazadeh.