The Islamic Republic's judiciary has executed an ethnic Baluch woman who had been sentenced to death on drug-related charges, a human rights website reported, amid a spike in executions in the wake of nationwide protests.
Zarkhaton Mazarzehi, 46, was hanged in Kerman Prison on the morning of November 15.
She was the sole breadwinner for her impoverished family, which includes a young daughter.
Mazarzehi was arrested in 2017 while traveling in a bus to Shiraz with a package containing drugs.
An informed source has told IranWire that she claimed to ignore what the package contained.
The defendant was denied legal representation throughout the judicial proceedings.
Activists accuse the Islamic Republic of using capital punishment to spread fear among the population after the country was swept by protests sparked by the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini.
According to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group, at least 499 people were executed between the beginning of the year and mid-September.
Members of the Baluch minority – most of whom adhere to the Sunni strain of Islam – have been disproportionately targeted, accounting for nearly one-third of all executions.
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