The death sentence of a prisoner charged with murder carried out in Gorgan Central Prison

Human Rights in Iran – Tuesday, August 11, 2020 / The death sentence of Mohammad Bahramnejad, a prisoner accused of premeditated murder and jailed in the Central Prison of Gorgan (capital city of Gorgan Province, north east of Tehran) was carried out.

According to Human Rights in Iran, Mohammad Bahramnejad, a prisoner accused of premeditated murder and imprisoned in Gorgan Central Prison, who had previously condemned by the Criminal Court to death, was executed this morning, Tuesday, August 11, 2020. The retaliation (qisas) sentence of this imprisoned defendant was upheld by the Supreme Court.

This prisoner was reportedly charged with premeditated murder following a street fight with a man named Jafar Galoobandi in Gonbad-e Kavus (Golestan Province) in 2017.

Mohammad Bahramnejad was tried and sentenced to death by the Gonbad-e Kavus Criminal Court after his arrest on charges of murder. He was transferred to Gorgan Central Prison in 2019 for unknown reasons.

According to the annual report by Amnesty International in 2019, the Iranian government executed at least 251 people. At least 4 of those executed were under the age of 18 at the time of crime. However due to the lack of transparency of the authorities, it is difficult to find out the actual number of executions in this country and it may be much higher than the announced figures.

According to international instruments of human rights, as well as Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Based on the statistics published by human rights organizations, Iran is one of the countries with the highest per capita executions, and in the world rankings, Iran has the highest number of annual executions after China.

On February 18, 2020, Amnesty International released a report interpreting human rights abuses in Iran, stating in a part of the report on the issuance and execution of death sentences: The death penalty continues to be used for acts permitted by international human rights law, including sexual intercourse with consensual homosexuals and sexual intercourse outside of marriage. The death sentence also continues for crimes such as insulting the Prophet of Islam, muharebeh (waiging war against God), and corruption on earth, which have very vague definitions.