Zabihollah Arjmand Executed in Dehdasht

According to information obtained by Iran Human Right, a man was executed in Dehdasht Prison on 6 December. His identity has been established as 35-year-old Zabihollah Arjmand who was sentenced to death for drug-related charges.

He said goodbye to his family in his last visit with them the day prior to his execution. According to informed sources Zabihollah was from a very poor family and the drugs found did not belong to him.

The number of drug executions dramatically dropped in 2018 following a 2017 Amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Laws. Consequently, drug executions ranged between 24-30 per annum between 2018-2020. The Amendment was reversed in practice in 2021 when executions increased ten-fold to 126 in 2021 and doubled again in 2022 with 256 drug-related executions. On 13 September 2023, IHRNGO reported a 94% rise in the number of drug-related executions in the year following the start of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in September 2022.