In the second week of May 2025, a wave of executions across various Iranian prisons has sparked deep concern among human rights activists and the international community. On just Wednesday, May 21, at least 10 prisoners were executed in the prisons of Qezel Hesar, Tabriz, Tehran, Birjand, Hamedan, and Isfahan. This brings the total number of executions this month to 151, an unprecedented figure in recent years.
List of Recent Executions
Qezel Hesar Prison: Three individuals — Jahanshah Afshari, Alim Barahouei (67 years old, from Zahedan), and a man known only as Morteza from Mashhad — were executed at dawn on May 21. They were charged with murder and drug-related offenses.
Mahziar Karimi was also executed in this prison earlier, on May 7.
Tehran: Yasin Hosseinzadeh (56 years old, from Marand), accused of an armed attack on the Azerbaijani embassy and the murder of the embassy’s head of security, was executed.
Tabriz: Ruhollah Gahremani (30 years old), who had been imprisoned for five years on murder charges, was executed at dawn on May 21.
Birjand Prison: Three inmates — Naser Dahar, Ghanbar Ghaffari, and Nouraldin Mohammadzadeh — were hanged. They were convicted in a joint drug-related case.
Hamedan Prison: Saeed Kashani was executed for murder.
Isfahan Prison: Jaber Shah-Karamzehi, Jafar Ghorbani, and Mohammad Amin Kolsoomi were executed. Shah-Karamzehi was denied a final visit with his family, a clear violation of prisoner rights.
Bandar Abbas: Two individuals — Abdoljabbar Jamalzahi (an Afghan national) and Yousef Esmaeili (from Sardasht) — were executed. Esmaeili was deprived of family visits during his detention.
Qom: Meysam Khazaei was executed.
Kahnooj: Abdollah Pashan (also known as Ali Raeisi), a father of three, was executed.
Borazjan: Ahmad Bani-Asad was executed on murder charges.
