Executions of Nigerian and Ghanaian Citizens in Mashad’s Vakilabad Prison

Following the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran’s recent reports about the secret executions of death-row prisoners inside Mashad’s Vakilabad Prison, reliable sources told the Campaign that two of the inmates who were recently executed were citizens of Ghana and Nigeria.

Ten More Secret Executions in Mashad, Foreign Citizens Among Those Executed

According to information obtained by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the implementation of death sentences in Mashad’s Vakilabad prison continues. Last Tuesday, 26 October, ten more prisoners were executed in a group without any official announcement by the Iranian government. All those executed had been charged with drug trafficking. Among those executed was a Nigerian citizen. In similar executions in recent months in Vakilabad prison, some Afghan citizens and a citizen of Ghana were also executed.

Pace of Political Executions Accelerating

(28 January 2010) The execution of two men charged with crimes in connection with alleged membership in illegal anti-government organizations, and the announcement of death sentences for nine other persons arrested for protest activities, are part of a growing wave of political executions in the Islamic Republic, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani (37) and Arash Rahmani Pour (19) were executed on 28 January. According to his indictment, Zamani’s conviction for the capital crime of Mohareb, or “taking up arms against God,”