Execution Of At Least 7 Prisoners In Birjand, Zahedan And Sanandaj

Human Rights in Iran – Tuesday, February 28, 2023 – The death sentences of at least six prisoners were carried out in Birjand and Zahedan prisons for mainly drug-related offenses. Also, a prisoner charged with murder was executed at Sanandaj Central Prison.

According to the report Human Rights in Iran, quoting the Baluch Activists Campaign, on Sunday, February 26, 2023, Abdolhamid Shahbakhsh, son of Baha’uddin, from Zahedan, a prisoner accused of drug offenses, was executed at Birjand County Prison in South Khorasan Province.

Abdolhamid Shahbakhsh was arrested in 2020 on charges of “transportation and possession of narcotics” and sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Birjand during the proceedings، according to the report.

According to the statements, Abdolhamid Shahbakhsh’s death sentence was carried out without any visitation with his family.

Also, at dawn on Monday, February 27 (2023), Hadi Arbabi (Gorgij), son of Ahmad, along with Mohammad-Es’hagh Gorgij, son of Khodarahm, two prisoners from Zahedan in the capital of Sistan and Baluchistan Province, were executed in Zahedan Central Prison.

According to this report, Hadi Arbabi and Mohammad-Es’hagh Gorgij were arrested some years ago on drug charges in Zahedan and were sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of the city during the proceedings.

Haalvsh’s website also announced in a news release that on Sunday, February 26 (2023), Ali Fonoudi, married and from Birjand, a prisoner charged with unspecified crimes, along with two female prisoners whose identities and charges are not available, were executed at Birjand Central Prison.

As of this announcement, no information has been available about the charges that led to the death sentences against Ali Fonoudi and two female prisoners who have not been identified.

Kurdpa’s website also added that at dawn on Sunday, February 26, 2023, Hamid Rahimi, from Dehgolan County, Kurdistan Province, a prisoner accused of murder and imprisonment at Sanandaj Central Prison, was executed.

Hamid Rahimi was arrested on the charge of committing premeditated murder and after going through the stages of interrogation and investigation, was sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Criminal Court, according to the report.

His death sentence was confirmed after the case was referred to the Supreme Court.

After the appointment of Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ezhe’ei as the head of the judiciary and his claim to speed up the execution of old cases and as a result the execution of death sentences with the aim of reducing the country’s criminal crimes, this process lead to the protest of Amnesty International by publishing a report on 27th June, 2022, explaining the situation of the implementation of death sentences in the first 6 months of 2022 in Iran.

Also, on August 23, 2022, Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights, protested the increasing trend of issuing and carrying out death sentences in Iran in his periodic report on human rights violations in Iran.

Due to the lack of transparency of the Iranian authorities, it is difficult to find out the actual number of executions in this country, and the number is certainly much higher than the announced figure.

Issuing and executing death sentences violates international human rights documents, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.