IRAN: TWENTY PRISONERS HANGED IN FOUR DIFFERENT CITIES

February 18, 2014: twenty prisoners were hanged in four different Iranian cities.
Eight of them were executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison of Karaj, reported the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). They were identified as: Ali Asghar Khodadust,36; Ali Zarpoush, 29; Ali Afkhami, 22; Adel Karami, 30; Morteza Letafat, 33; Mohammad Khaleghi, 33; Ali Dabirian, 35; and Ali Asghar Kian, 41. Four more prisoners were hanged in the prison of Kerman, reported the FARS. Participation in trafficking of 703 kilograms and 250 grams of opium was the charge of two of the prisoners who were executed. The third and fourth prisoners were charged with possession and trafficking of 22 kilograms and 300 grams of heroin, and possession and trafficking of 1,300 grams of heroin respectively. All the four had been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Kerman. FARS news agency also reported about the execution of three prisoners in the prison of Qazvin early in the morning. According to this report, Hussein Lotfi Khesal, Jalal Telim Khani and Mahmoud Husseini were sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court, after being convicted of drug trafficking. Five more prisoners were executed in Bandar Abbas, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). (Sources: Iran Human Rights, 18/02/2014; HRANA, 19/02/2014)