🔸Request to extend the suspension of executions for drug-related crimes to other prisons in Iran

The Iran Human Rights Organization, based in Norway, welcomed the temporary halt in carrying out death sentences for drug-related crimes at Qezel Hesar Prison. It said this development was the result of the prisoners’ hunger strike and an increase in the political cost of executions (for the government), and called for it to be immediately extended to all prisons across the country.

Following a 16-day strike by prisoners in Unit 2 of Qezel Hesar and the transfer of 6 convicts to solitary confinement, government officials, in a meeting with the striking prisoners, promised to suspend these executions for three to six months and returned the prisoners to the general ward.

Citing 795 executions carried out in connection with drug-related crimes in 2025 (a 58% increase compared with 2024) and at least 136 executions since the beginning of 2026, the Iran Human Rights Organization called for a permanent and nationwide suspension of these executions in Iran.