Iran Executes Afghan Teenager and Two Baluch Prisoners

An 18-year-old Afghan national was executed in Yazd Central Prison on Thursday.

Ismail Barakzai had been sentenced to death for an alleged murder he committed at the age of 17.

According to the Haalvsh Human Rights Organization, Barakzai was arrested last year following an altercation in Meybod, where he was accused of killing a young man.

Despite being a minor at the time of the crime, the Iranian judiciary swiftly sentenced him to death.

On the same day, two Baluch prisoners, Davood Mohammadi Takht-Shah, 33, and Osman Dahmardeh, 26, both from Zahedan, were also executed in Yazd Central Prison. They were convicted on drug-related charges.

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

At least 166 people were executed in October, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization, marking the highest number of executions in a single month since the organization began documenting them 17 years ago.