IRAN: NINE PRISONERS HANGED ON DRUG CHARGES

January 19, 2017: At least nine prisoners have been hanged in Iran on drug charges in the last days.
On January 14, two prisoners were executed at Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah, Iran Human Rights reported. They were identified as: Seifollah Hosnian, 33, arrested in 2010 for possession of two kilograms and 200 grams of crack and one kilogram and 80 grams of crystal meth; Tofigh Bahramnejad, 31, arrested in 2012.
On January 15, two prisoners, identified as Akbar K. and Morteza H., were executed in the Central Prison of Qazvin for drug trafficking, announced Ismail Sadeqi Niaraki, the city’s public prosecutor.
On January 17, five people were executed in two different cities.
A 36-year-old prisoner, identified as Ramezan Yousef Heydari, was hanged at Bandar Abbas Central Prison, reported Iran Human Rights. He was arrested in 2011 for possessing and trafficking 900 grams of crystal meth and two kilograms and 200 grams of crack.
On the same day, four prisoners were executed at Mashhad's Vakilabad Prison. One of them was identified by the HRANA as Ahmad Shekarabi, sentenced to death for possessing and trafficking five kilograms of heroin. "Ahmad's first death sentence was quashed by the Supreme Court, but he was sentenced to death again by branch 8 of Mashhad's Revolutionary Court, presided by Judge Mazloom," a source close to Shekarabi's family told Iran Human Rights.
The source insisted that Shekarabi was innocent. (Sources: Fars News Agency, 15/01/2017; HRANA e Iran Human Rights, 17-18/01/2017)