End Draws Near for Zahedan Death Row Prisoner

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – After 11 years of confinement, a Zahedan prisoner on death row for murder charges has been transferred today, September 5, 2018, to solitary confinement per protocol for detainees whose execution is imminent.

HRANA has confirmed the prisoner’s identity: Mehdi Sarani, 37, of Zabol. He is now in Ward 4 of the Central Prison of Zahedan (capital of the southeastern province of Sistan & Baluchestan and home to Baluchi minority).

According to Amnesty International’s annual report, Iran ranks first in the world in executions per capita.

An annual report published by the Center of Statistics at Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) states that more than 60% of executions in Iran are not reported by the state or the Judiciary. These executions are referred to as “secret executions.”

According to registered data from 2,945 reports by the Statistics, Publications, and Achievements Division of HRAI, in the past year (from March 21, 2017, to March 18, 2018) at least 322 citizens were executed and 236 others were sentenced to death in Iran. Among these were the executions of four juvenile offenders and 23 public hangings.

The List of 120 Death Row Prisoners in Central Prison of Zahedan

HRANA News Agency – The identities of 121 death row prisoners in Zahedan Central Prison who are being mostly held in Ward One and Ward Three of this prison, have been verified by HRANA. This list is based on the charges of convicts including political-security, drug offenses and crimes such as murder and rape, despite the fact that the law on combating drug offenses has been reformed, leading to a change in the majority of executions of convicted prisoners, there is still no change in the legal status of some of drug offenders who had been sentenced to death.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), 11 prisoners of Ward One of Zahedan Central Prison are on death row, and despite the adoption of a new anti-narcotics law, which revises nearly 15,000 cases of prisoners, these 11 prisoners remain sentenced to death without changing their legal status. Continue reading “The List of 120 Death Row Prisoners in Central Prison of Zahedan”