Execution of three prisoners in Sistan and Baluchestan

"Given the special conditions in Balochistan, security authorities are more determined to carry out death sentences in this region."

On Friday, December 19, news was released that several death row inmates had been transferred to quarantine in Zahedan Prison, raising concerns about the imminent execution of these inmates.

In an interview with the Ensaf News website, attorney Mohammad Reza Faghihi announced that five death row inmates in Zahedan Prison were transferred to prison quarantine to serve their sentences. The attorney, who represents two of the inmates, said, “I have no information about the status of my clients, and I guess two of these defendants are my clients.”

According to this lawyer, "Recently, the death sentence has been in the execution stage. However, when the family requested it, we accepted the representation and studied the defendants' case in the execution of the rulings of the Zahedan Revolutionary Court. We are preparing to submit the case to the Supreme Court for retrial. We were always afraid that my clients would be taken to the execution stage before we could complete the legal extension."

Attorney Mustafa Nili, in a brief interview with Emtaad, also mentioned that at least 10 people in Zahedan Prison have been sentenced to "death" on charges of rebellion and membership in groups that are said to be opposed to the Islamic Republic. He said, "Out of these 10 people, four are my clients. After announcing my representation and studying their cases in the past month, I am drafting a bill to retry them."

Mustafa Nili, confirming the news that five of the death row inmates had been transferred to solitary confinement to carry out their sentences, said that he did not know whether his clients were among the five. According to the lawyer, "After studying the case file, there are some objections to the sentences issued to these individuals that could lead to their sentences being overturned."

Mustafa Nili, while expressing concern that his clients would be denied the opportunity to retry the case and exercise their rights, had requested senior officials of the judiciary to prevent the execution of these rulings.

One day after the news of the prisoners being transferred to quarantine to carry out the sentence was published, on Saturday, December 19, the Mizan News Agency, affiliated with the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, wrote in a short news report, quoting Mostafavinia, the Chief Justice of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, "On Saturday morning, the death sentences of two drug smugglers who had attempted to transport drugs with weapons were carried out."

The judicial official said that "these individuals had been arrested since 2017, and their case was carefully investigated and, in accordance with the law, resulted in the issuance of a death sentence, which was carried out after the sentence was finalized and the legal formalities were completed."

The Baloch Activists Campaign wrote on the same day that the identities of the two executed prisoners were "Hanam Rigi" and "Shoaib Rigi."

On Sunday, December 20, "Rasanak", the website of human rights activists in Balochistan, announced that a Baloch prisoner named "Abdul Basit Khesht", from the village of "Bansat" in the city of "Konrak", was executed in the central prison of "Dozap".

According to this news website, Abdul Baset Khesht was arrested in 2012 and was being held in Zahedan Central Prison.

A source familiar with the cases of several death row inmates in Zahedan Prison told the Iran Human Rights Campaign: "Most of these cases are related to the convicts' membership in groups such as Jaysh al-Adl and Jaysh al-Nasr, in fact, groups that were previously founded by Abdolmalek Rigi and his brother in that area, and in most of these cases there was armed conflict."

This source, who is familiar with the cases of some of the convicts, told the Iranian Human Rights Campaign, "The special security conditions of that region and the reasoning of Iranian security officials make the authorities determined to carry out the death sentences."

According to this informed source, "The authorities' security view of these cases and the charges against those sentenced to death has led the authorities to argue that if the death sentences are not carried out, the security of the region will be jeopardized."

This informed source, noting that "the only remaining way is to retry the cases of those sentenced to death in the Supreme Court," told the Iran Human Rights Campaign, "The reality is that the lawyers of the convicts have a very difficult task ahead of them, and the hope is that the retrial will be accepted in the Supreme Court and then these sentences will be overturned in court."

Previously, Mohammad Reza Faghihi, the chosen lawyer of two defendants sentenced to death in Zahedan Prison, told Ensaf News that "My request to the respected judicial authorities, including the provincial judicial authorities and national authorities, especially the head of the judiciary, is that, considering that the executions that are being carried out, regardless of the truthfulness of the accusations and the evidence in the case, unfortunately expose our country and the Islamic Republic system to various human rights accusations and allow delays in the implementation of these sentences. At least before the sentence is carried out, cases like this should be given the opportunity to be reviewed and re-examined so that the pressure from human rights and international institutions on our country can subside and decrease at least to some extent."

Reports indicate that in recent days, Javid Dehghan Khald and Hassan Dehvari, prisoners sentenced to death in Zahedan who had previously been transferred to solitary confinement along with a number of others to carry out their sentences, have returned to the prison ward after the execution of their sentences was postponed.

Source: Human Rights Campaign