Report on Recent Executions of Eight Inmates in Five Prisons

Eight inmates on death row for different criminal cases were executed in Amol, Gorgan, Rajai-Shahr, Meshgin, and Arabail prisons. 

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, 45 year old Hashem Amiri was executed in Gorgan Prison on Sunday. In 2013, he committed murder during a house burglary.

According to another HRANA report, a female inmate who was convicted of killing her husband seven years ago was executed in Amol prison last Tuesday. “Since the prison guards refused to put the rope around her neck, she had to wait hours at the gallows until a prison officer from outside prison came and hung the woman”, an informed source told HRANA.

In Rajai Shahr Prison, located in Karaj City, ten inmates on death row were transferred to solitary confinement cells awaiting their executions. Four inmates were executed on December 15. HRANA has identified one of these executed inmates as Mahmood Mohmoodi. Iran Human Rights Organization has identified three others as Hamed Mousavi, Kurosh Mazaheri and Davoud (family name is unidentified). The six other inmates each could obtain a moratorium from the victim’s family.

According to the Iran Human Rights Organization, an inmate identified as Mohammad Tazehkar was executed in Meshgin Shahr Prison last Sunday. In 2017, he was convicted of killing his friend. It is likely that he was underage at the time of committing the crime.

The Iran Human Rights Organization also reports the execution of 40 year old Mohammad Khodai in Ardabil Prison. Five years ago, he was sentenced to death for murdering his wife.

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

The most recent report from the Statistics and Publication Center of the Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) states that between October 8 of 2020 and October 9 of 2021, at least 266 citizens, three of whom were juvenile offenders, were executed and 90 citizens were sentenced to death.

As the report points out, Iran’s judicial authorities do not publicly announce over 82% of executions. These unreported executions are known as “secret executions” by human rights organizations.