In a continuation of the alarming wave of executions in Iran, two more prisoners — including a woman — were executed in Zahedan and Qazvin prisons in recent days. According to human rights sources, at least 81 people have been executed in Iran since the beginning of the Persian new year on March 20, 2025. This amounts to more than two executions per day on average.
On Sunday, April 20, 2025, Saadollah Gorgij, a 29-year-old man from the village of Sejou in Saravan County, was executed in Zahedan Central Prison. He had been arrested four years earlier on drug-related charges and was sentenced to death following a flawed judicial process.
A few days earlier, on Wednesday, April 15, 2025, Marzieh Esmaeili, a 39-year-old woman, was executed in Qazvin Prison. She was convicted of carrying 600 grams of narcotics in exchange for 10 million tomans (approximately $170 USD), driven by severe poverty. Marzieh, a mother of one, had no family or legal representation. Sources say she had no choice but to take such a risk due to her dire living conditions. After her execution, her body was claimed by the only person remaining in her life — her adoptive daughter, Soudabeh.
The Iranian HRM strongly condemned these executions, calling Marzieh Esmaeili’s case a clear example of how women are disproportionately victimized by structural poverty, systemic corruption, and the lack of legal protections in Iran. The growing number of women being executed, particularly for drug-related offenses, reflects a disturbing escalation in human rights violations and a continued failure to uphold due process within the Iranian judiciary.
