5 Men Including an Afghan National and 2 Baluch Minorities Executed in Shiraz

June 13, 2022, 4:28 p.m.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); June 13, 2022: Five men including an Afghan national and two Baluch minorities were executed for murder and drug charges in Shiraz Central Prison yesterday.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, five men were executed in Shiraz Central Prison on 12 June. Three of the men have been identified as Afghan-national, Fahim Valiollah Dini, Mojtaba Ali Nazar from Maroudasht and 37-year-old Ali Akaram Kianpour from Darab.

Mojtaba Ali Nazar and Ali Karam Kianpour were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder and the other three prisoners including Fahim Valiollah Dini, were all sentenced to death for drug-related offences.

The Baluch Activists Campaign has identified another of the men as Jomeh Makaki (pictured). The identity of the fifth man who was also Baluch has not been established at the time of writing.

Jomeh Makaki was arrested for drug-related offences around five years ago and was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.

According to Iran Human Rights’ sources, Mojtaba Ali Nazar had spent four years behind bars for murder and Ali Karam Kianpour had spent five years in prison for murder.

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

According to data gathered by Iran Human Rights, at least 183 people were executed on murder charges in 2021. Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or circumstances due to a lack of grading in law. Once a defendant has been convicted, the victim’s family are required to choose between death as retribution, diya (blood money) or forgiveness.

Data gathered by Iran Human Rights also shows that Baluch prisoners accounted for 21% of all executions in 2021, while only representing 2–6% of Iran’s population. Furthermore, 25% of the 168 recorded executions in the first five months of 2022 were Baluch minorities.