Group of Hanging of 2 Women and 3 Men in Mashhad; 10 Executed at Prison That Day

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two women and three men were hanged in Mashhad (Vakil Abad) Central Prison on 8 April 2025. Two of the men and the two women were sentenced to death on drug-related charges. The two women’s identities have not been established at the time of writing. The two men have been identified as 32-year-old Mohammadreza Damideh (middle photo) and Amirahmad Sanayi (Mazarzehi, left photo), two Baluch minorities.

The fifth man who was also Baluch, was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. His identity has been established as 22-year-old Sajad Barahouyi (right photo).

IHRNGO previously reported the executions of five political prisoners named Farhad Shakeri, Abdolhakim Azim Gorgij, Abdolrahman Gorgij, Taj Mohammad Khormali and Malek Ali Fadayi Nasab, bringing the total number of executions to ten that day.

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.

The two unidentified women are the tenth and eleventh women to be executed in 2025 according to IHRNGO data. Iran executes the highest number of women globally. In 2024, at least 31 women were executed for drug-related, murder and security-related charges in Iran, the highest number of recorded women executions in more than 15 years.

In January 2025, IHRNGO published a report titled “Women and the Death Penalty in Iran; a Gendered Perspective,” which sheds light on the contemporary experiences of women facing the death penalty, focusing on the discriminatory laws and societal factors that perpetuate their suffering.