Execution of Zarkhaton Mazarzahi Carried Out
Early yesterday morning, the execution order for Zarkhaton Mazarzahi was carried out.
Zarkhaton Mazarzahi was born in 1356 and was a native of Saravan, residing in Khash city. She was married, had one daughter, and was the head of her household. In 2017, due to poverty pressure, she had agreed to carry a package strapped to her body and board a bus bound for Shiraz, while being unaware of the package’s contents.
Highway police conducting inspections on the Kerman to Shiraz route searched Zarkhaton and several others, finding the package that Zarkhaton had strapped to her body despite being unaware of its contents. The Kerman Revolutionary Court convicted her on March 15, 2022, on charges of drug possession and trafficking, sentencing her to death.
Zarkhaton’s family members visited her on Tuesday, November 14, for a final meeting and reported her poor physical condition. She saw her young granddaughter for the first and last time. The Mazarzahi family announced they did not even have the financial means to afford an ambulance to transport her body after execution, and her friends and acquaintances collected money to organize a funeral ceremony for her.
Zarkhaton was transferred to solitary confinement in Kerman prison on Monday to be prepared for execution. Her execution order was carried out despite the fact that due to extreme financial hardship, she could not afford a lawyer, and all legal proceedings and case reviews were conducted without the presence of counsel, not even an appointed public defender.
