Group Hanging of 6 Including Woman in Mashhad

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, five men and a woman were executed in Mashhad (Vakil Abad) Central Prison on 1st March. Their identities have been established as Asieh Ghavicheshm, a 45-year-old mother of two and 32-year-old Jalal Afagh, both from the Khalghabad village in Mashhad, Massoud Yagizi (Barahouyi), a 35-year-old Baluch man, 35-year-old Aref Sedighpour, 26-year-old Mehdad Kalbali from Zabol and Hassan Shahraki, a 29-year-old Baluch man from Zahedan.

Asieh and Jalal were arrested together around four years ago, Massoud was on death row for three years. According to informed sources, despite his families efforts, they were not granted a last visit with Massoud.

At the time of writing, none of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2024 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 503 people were executed for drug-related charges, of which only under 3% were announced by official sources. 17% of all drug-related executions in 2024 were Baluch minorities while they represent 2-6% of Iran’s population.

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.”