KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Iran has executed an Afghan man convicted of drug-related offenses, according to the Norway-based rights organization Iran Human Rights (IHR).
The man, identified as 59-year-old Eslam Mir Saeed, was executed at Yazd Central Prison on Tuesday alongside two Iranian citizens. IHR said Eslam’s 21-year-old son remains in prison, serving a nine-month sentence for alleged complicity.
Iranian authorities and state media have not publicly confirmed the executions.
IHR has highlighted a significant increase in drug-related executions in Iran in recent years. At least 503 people, including Afghan nationals, were executed in 2024, representing a 6.6% rise from the previous year and 20 times the number recorded in 2020.
Executions of Afghan nationals in Iran have surged since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. According to IHR, 16 Afghan citizens were executed in 2022, 25 in 2023, and at least 80 in 2024. So far in 2025, at least 59 Afghan nationals, including one woman, have been executed.
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have repeatedly condemned Iran’s use of capital punishment, particularly for drug offenses, arguing that such practices violate the right to life under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “The shameless rate at which the authorities are carrying out drug-related executions, in violation of international law, exposes their lack of humanity and flagrant disregard for the right to life.” She added that international cooperation on anti-drug trafficking efforts must not contribute, directly or indirectly, to arbitrary killings or other human rights abuses in Iran.
Rights groups have raised concerns over Iran’s judicial system, pointing to a lack of transparency and restricted access to fair trials, particularly for non-Iranian defendants, which they say disproportionately impacts foreign nationals and marginalized communities.
