Iran Human Rights (MAR 15 2017): Four prisoners were reportedly hanged at Darya, Urmia's central prison (West Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran), on drug related charges.
According to the human rights news agency, HRANA, the executions were carried out on Tuesday March 14. The prisoners have been identified as Chengiz Badozadeh, Akram Hassanpour, Vahed Hamedi, and Kiumars Freydan (also known as Delawar).
According to the report by HRANA, Mr. Freydan was sentenced to death twice in two separate case files. In one of the files, he was charged with trafficking under 100 grams of narcotics, in the other, he was charged with trafficking under 500 grams of narcotics. One of his death sentences was reportedly commuted to life in prison. Mr. Freydan's wife is reportedly currently held in the women's ward of Urmia's central prison on drug related charges. Mr. Freydan's father, Effendi, was reportedly hanged by Iranian authorities in September 2016. Mr. Freydan's brother is reportedly held in Ward 14 of Urmia's central prison. Mr. Freydan's mother was reportedly released from the same prison recently.
The recent wave of executions in Iran comes at the same time time that the Iranian Parliament is reportedly reviewing a proposed bill to limit the use of the death penalty for drug related offenses.