Despite repeated warnings from human rights activists, on Sunday, December 15, the death sentences of 11 prisoners, including nine Baluch, one Kurdish, and one woman, were carried out in central prisons of Yazd and Zahedan. These individuals had previously been convicted of charges such as drug-related crimes and murder.
According to the Haalvsh website, five Baluch prisoners, one Kurdish prisoner, and one woman were executed in Yazd prison.
These individuals, many of whom had several children, had been arrested years ago on drug-related charges and sentenced to death.
Local sources reported that Reza Kharkouhi, one of the executed individuals, suffered physical disability due to medical negligence in prison and had been using a wheelchair in the final years of his life.
Four Baluch prisoners were also executed in Zahedan prison. They had been arrested on drug-related charges as well.
Sources indicated that the families of the prisoners had their last meetings with them the day before the executions.
According to the report, the Baluch community, which comprises only 5-6% of Iran’s population, consistently ranks highest in the country’s execution statistics.
Many of these individuals belong to the impoverished and marginalized segments of society, burdened with the responsibility of supporting large families due to economic hardships.
Most of these executions are carried out for drug-related charges, despite repeated calls from international organizations and human rights experts to reform punitive policies and abolish the death penalty for such crimes.
Notably, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of the Iranian regime is one of the largest drug cartels in the region. Recently, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, warehouses and workshops producing Captagon pills were discovered in Syrian military compounds. The Iranian regime and the IRGC were major supporters of Bashar al-Assad.
