In a huge surge in executions, over 860 have been hanged in Iran, with the majority of these executions being for drug-related offenses, which is unlawful under international law standards that limit the use of capital punishment only to the “most serious” crimes. Drug offenses do not meet this threshold. 

At least 12 known executions for just drug offenses took place on December 25 and 26:

Javad Ghaffari, Ahmad Ghafran, Abdollah Naroui, and Hossein Salarzehi were executed in Gonabad Central Prison for drug-related offenses on December 26.

Two Kurdish prisoners, Saman Fakhri and Asad Amini, were executed in Jiroft Central Prison on December 26 after being convicted of drug-related charges.

The death sentence of an Afghan national identified as Abdulrahman Eshaqzahi was carried out in secret at Mashhad Central Prison on December 25. Simultaneously, Hamed Khosravi was executed at the Central Prison of this city. Both were convicted of drug-related charges.

Two Kurdish prisoners, Masoud Jalilian from Kermanshah and Hassan Mansouri, along with another prisoner named Hamed Pakdaman, were executed in Qezel Hesar Prison on December 25. They were convicted of drug-related charges.

Mahmoud Keshavarzi, who had been convicted of drug-related crimes, was executed at Shiraz Central Prison on December 25. 

The death sentence of Hamed Ranjbar was carried out in Adelabad Prison on December 25 for drug-related offenses