According to reports from the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on May 4, 2023, six inmates were executed in three different prisons in Iran. Four of the inmates were executed in Lakan prison in Rasht, while one was executed in Urmia and another in Khorramabad prison.

HRANA has identified one of the inmates executed in Rasht as Jalaledin Rahimian Azar, a 23-year-old resident of Mahabad who was convicted of murder. The other three inmates executed in Rasht were convicted of drug-related crimes.

Additionally, on the same day, Faramarz Shakhsi, a resident of Bukan, was executed in Urmia Prison. Also, Khorramabad Prison officials executed an inmate identified as Hamid Emami, convicted of murder.

In addition to these executions, on the same day, Faramarz Shakhsi, a resident of Bukan, was executed in Urmia prison and Hamid Emami, who had been convicted of murder, was executed in Khorramabad prison.

In recent days, the number of executions has surged in various prisons across the country, adding to the growing concern about the use of the death penalty in Iran’s justice system.

None of the official sources and media outlets inside the country has reported these executions at the time of writing.

In 2022, the Department of Statistics and Publication of Human Rights Activists in Iran registered 457 reports related to the death penalty. This included 92 death sentences, including the conviction of 6 people to public execution and 565 execution sentences were carried out, 2 of which have been carried out in public. Based on the announced identifications of some of the executed individuals, 501 were male and 11 were female. In addition, 5 juvenile offenders were executed in 2022, meaning they were under the age of 18 at the time they committed the crime.