Afghan National Abdolbari Pashtu and Alireza Pourshahbaz Executed in Karaj

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj on 21 April. Their identities have been established as Abdolbari Pashtu from Afghanistan and 38-year-old Alireza Pourshahbaz. They were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

The two men were transferred for execution with another man named Ali Jafar Taheri whose execution was postponed due to unknown reasons.

At the time of writing, none of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Two murder death row prisoners were also transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions on 21 April. Their identities have been established as Mohammad Nohtani and Yadollah Ajami. Their executions will be carried out in the next days if they cannot obtain extensions from the plaintiffs in their respective cases.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2023 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 471 people were executed for drug-related charges, an 84% increase compared to 2022 (256) and about 18 times the average of drug-related executions in 2018-2020. Baluch minorities who constitute 2-6% of Iran’s population, made up 30% of drug executions in 2023.

On 10 April 2024, 80+ Iranian and international organisations and groups called for joint action to stop drug-related executions, urging UNODC to make “any cooperation with the Islamic Republic contingent on a complete halt on drug-related executions.

It is important to note that Afghan nationals constitute the largest group of non-Iranian executions and death row cases in Iranian prisons. The number of their executions have been steadily rising since the Taliban takeover in 2021. At least five Afghan nationals were executed in 2021 which more than tripled in 2022, with 16 Afghan nationals including a juvenile offender and a woman executed. In 2023, at least 25 Afghans were executed, a 56% rise compared to the previous year. Abdolbari Pashtu is the ninth Afghan national executed in 2024.