Mohammad Hossein Esmaili Executed in Karaj

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Karaj Penitentiary (Central Prison) on 30 January. His identity has been established as Mohammad Hossein Esmaili who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

Esmail Chieh and a man only identified as Payam were previously reported to have been executed that day, bringing the number of executions at the prison to three that day.

At the time of writing, none of their executions have 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.