Four prisoners convicted of alleged murder were executed on Wednesday at Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj, near Tehran

Two of the executed individuals have been identified as Reza Shirzahi, a 21-year-old from Pakdasht and Hamed Pakdel.

Shirzahi was just 17 years old when he was arrested in 2020 for killing a friend during an altercation. He was subsequently tried in criminal court and sentenced to death.

The verdict was later upheld by the Supreme Court, according to the human rights organization HRANA.

Before his execution, he was transferred between several prisons, including Khorin, Rajai Shahr, and eventually Ghezelhesar.

The identities of the other two executed prisoners remain unknown. Prison authorities and relevant institutions have not officially acknowledged the executions.

Tehran has executed a record number of prisoners while global attention has been focused on the threat of all-out war between Iran and Israel, using the tensions as cover to carry out the killings, according to human rights organizations.

At least 166 people were executed in October, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization.

This marks the highest number of executions in a single month since the organization began documenting executions 17 years ago.

Amnesty International’s report indicates that the judiciary of the Islamic Republic executed 853 people in 2023, Iran’s highest number in eight years.

Of these, 481 executions, or more than half, were for drug-related offenses—an 89 percent increase from 2022, when 255 individuals were executed for similar crimes.

Source » iranwire