Friday , 29 March 2024

Abbasgholi Salehi, Hamid Shahsanayi and Afghan Mohammad Barahouyi Executed on Drug Charges

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Abbasgholi Salehi, Hamid Shahsanayi and Mohammad Barahouyi were executed on drug-related charges in Isfahan Central Prison. At least 81 prisoners, including a woman, have been executed on drug-related charges in Iranian prisons in 2021.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were executed on drug-related charges in Isfahan Central Prison (Dastgerd) on September 29. Their identities have been established as Abbasgholi Salehi, Hamid Shahsanayi and Mohammad Barahouyi.

Informed sources told IHR: “Mohammad Barahouyi was an Afghan national and was behind bars for nine years on charges of 180 kilograms of narcotics.”

“Abbasgholi Salehi was from Isfahan and 43 years old. He had been in prison on drug charges for 20 years,” the source added.

They were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions as part of a group of six on September 27. The execution of the three other men was postponed for unknown reasons. Two of the men are on death row for drug-related charges and the third has been sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

Afghan nationals Ali Morad and Heibat Rouzbi were executed on drug-related charges in Taybad Prison on September 8 and an unknown Afghan man was executed on the same charges and in the same prison on September 20.

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

According to Iran Human Rights’ Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, at least 25 people were executed on drug-related charges in 2020. However, at least 81 people have so far been executed on the same charge in 2021.

On May 3, IHR published a report on the death penalty in the first four months of 2021 expressing concern at the significant increase in the number of drug-related executions and continues to warn of the continuation of this trend.

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