ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Ilam central prison carried out the death penalty against two Kurds over drug-related charges and another for alleged murder, a human rights watchdog reported on Tuesday.
Shahram Mohammad Beigi, 38, was arrested three years ago for the alleged murder of one of his friends, according to Hengaw Human Rights Organization.
Beigi was a father of three and former youth cross country running athlete, who had been previously arrested by Iranian security forces during the 2019 protests.
Nationwide protests against the government of former President Hassan Rouhani erupted in Iran in November of 2019, following a surge in the price of petrol. Some 1,500 protesters were killed by Iranian security forces during the November demonstrations, making it the bloodiest anti-regime movement in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Eghbal Fathollahi and Mohsen Amraie were arrested on drug-related charges around five years ago. They were both executed on Tuesday morning at Ilam Central Prison.
State-affiliated media in Iran have yet to report on the executions.
Iran executed at least 576 people last year, a significant increase from the 314 executions carried out in 2021, making it the country with the second highest rate of known executions in 2022, according Amnesty International’s annual report on the subject. Executions for drug-related offences increased by 93 percent.
This year, after last fall's widespread demonstrations and a crackdown on the drug trade, Iran has carried out an alarming number of executions. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) estimated more than 350 people were executed in the first six months of 2023.
Most of those who are executed in Iran are convicted on the basis of confessions condemned by rights groups as being often obtained under duress.
