IRAN: FIVE HANGED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

November 7, 2012: Iranian state media reported a total of five people were executed in Shiraz and Zarand (Kerman Province) early this morning.
The official website of the Iranian judiciary in the province of Fars reports four prisoners were hanged publicly in the Koozeh-Gari Square of Shiraz (southern Iran). They were convicted of drug-related charges. Their names have been identified as: ’Arash Esmaeili’, ’Naghibollah Tajik’, ’Shahpour Majnun Mozafari’, and ’Najaf Ali H.’
Fars reports one prisoner was hanged in Zarand Prison (southeastern Iran) early this morning. The prisoner, identified as ’Y. A.’, was reportedly convicted of possession and trafficking 809 grams of heroin.
According to Iran Human Rights’s annual report on the death penalty, in 2011, more than 80% of executions in Iran were for drug-related charges. (Sources: Iran.net, 07/11/2012)