Hossein Ali Shakourian and Naser Mavadat Executed in Sabzevar

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Sabzevar Prison on 22 January. Their identities have been established as 37-year-old Hossein Ali Shakourian and 51-year-old Naser Mavadat who were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court separately.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Hossein Ali Shakourian was a lorry driver prior to his arrest three years ago. He denied the charges many times in court and said the discovered drugs weren’t his, that someone had stashed it in his lorry without his knowledge. Naser Mavadat was from Mashhad and was arrested around five years ago. He was transferred to the prison in his home city but was returned to Sabzevar Prison for execution.”

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year for the past three years. At least 305 people were executed for drug-related charges between 1 January-10 October 2023, a 69% increase compared to the same period in 2022, and the number of drug-related executions in 2023 were close to 20 times higher than 2020.

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.