The Iranian government has executed five Afghan nationals, including two brothers, according to the human rights website Hawalvash. Four of the executions took place in Mashhad, and one in Tabriz.
Those executed in Mashhad – Zaman Taheri, Salam Taheri, Gholam Qadir Samani, and Ibrahim Norouzi – were convicted on drug-related charges. They were reportedly moved from general detention to solitary confinement on Wednesday and executed Thursday morning. Waliullah, the Afghan national executed in Tabriz, was convicted of premeditated murder.
International and Iranian human rights organizations have condemned the executions. They have called on the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to make cooperation with Iran conditional on the country ending executions for drug-related offenses. These organizations express alarm at the escalating rate of drug-related executions in Iran, which have nearly tripled in the past three years.
In a joint statement released on April 10th, human rights groups criticized the silence of the international community regarding these executions. They noted that executions in Iran have increased by nearly 50% in 2023 compared to 2022. The statement also condemns the lack of fair trials in Iranian courts, emphasizing that defendants are often denied the right to choose their own legal representation.