Wave of Executions of Baluch Iranians Horrifies Campaign Groups

Some 21 Baluch citizens were executed in the cities of Mashhad, Isfahan and Zahedan between December 19, 2020 and January 30, 2021. At least four of these people were charged with political and security-related offences.

Despite widespread condemnation of the accelerated executions both inside and outside Iran, the authorities have continued to issue more Baluch Iranians with the death penalty.

It comes at the same time as a fresh wave of arrests of Kurdish citizens all over the country, with around 90 Kurds thought to have been detained since January 9.

Most recently, the Baluch Activists Campaign reported that a prisoner named Mehran Narouei, from Nosratabad, Zahedan province, is being held in Dastgerd Prison and in danger of being executed.

Narouei was first arrested in connection with drug-related offenses and sentenced to death by the judiciary in 2016 together with another prisoner. Both were denied access to a lawyer throughout their case, and some people close to the pair have claimed “political motives” are behind their disproportionate sentence, which has since been confirmed by the Supreme Court.

A source told the Baluch Activists Campaign: "Mehran is the son-in-law of Nour Mohammad Shahlibar, an opposition figure who was assassinated in Pakistan a few years ago. Mehran and [his late fellow prisoner] Anwar had no previous criminal records, and Anwar's death sentence has now been carried out, while Mehran is in imminent danger of execution."