Two individuals were executed in Iran in late August 2024, both convicted of drug-related offenses. The executions took place in the prisons of Qazvin and Tabriz, marking yet another instance of the Iranian judiciary’s use of capital punishment for such crimes.
On Sunday, August 25, 2024, Abbas Rashidi, a 45-year-old father of two, was executed in Qazvin Prison. Rashidi had been arrested three years earlier on charges related to drug trafficking and was subsequently sentenced to death. Before his arrest, he worked as a building painter. The execution was carried out without prior public announcement, and no details of the case have been released by Iranian state media or the judiciary.
Earlier, on Thursday, August 22, 2024, another prisoner, Khaled Jahangiri, was executed in Tabriz Prison. Jahangiri, also a father of two, had been detained five years ago on similar drug-related charges. He was a resident of Balu, a village in the Urmia region. Like Rashidi, Jahangiri’s execution was not reported by Iranian official sources or media outlets.
These executions highlight the ongoing use of the death penalty in Iran for drug-related crimes, a practice that has been the subject of widespread international criticism. The lack of transparency surrounding these cases raises further concerns about the fairness of trials and the conditions under which such sentences are imposed.
