April 24
IRANexecutions
4 Prisoners Executed in Northwestern Iran
4 prisoners were executed at Urmia Central Prison on murder charges.
According to a close source, on the morning of Monday, April 23, 4 prisoners
were executed at Urmia Central Prison.
The prisoners, who were sentenced to death on murder charges, were identified
as Tayyeb Sheikhnejad Moukeri from ward 4-3, Qader Mohammad Hassan from the
mental ward, Yadollah Samadi from ward 10, and Eslam Rashidi from ward 2-1.
The execution of these prisoners has not been announced by the state-run media
so far.
According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the
517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges.
There is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results
in issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and
intent.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
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Prisoner Known as "the Fake Postman" Scheduled to Be Executed
At least 1 prisoner, named Seyyed Iman Hosseini Moqaddam, was transferred to
solitary confinement. The prisoner, who was referred to as "the fake postman,"
was sentenced to death on the charge of rape. However, the prisoner and his
family believe that there is a political and economic reason for this charge.
According to a close source, on the morning of Sunday, April 22, at least one
prisoner, named Seyyed Iman Hosseini Moqaddam, was transferred to the solitary
confinement.
The prisoner, who was referred to by the media as "the fake postman," was
sentenced to death on the charge of corruption on earth.
Last November, the official media reported that Hosseini Moqaddam's execution
sentence was approved. After the verdict was accepted, the prisoner publically
denied the accusations.
The prisoner's lawyer, Esmayil Ashkbus, told IHR, "I have no information
regarding this. I'm going to the court to see what the matter is."
It should be noted that Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of former
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Chief of Staff from 2009 to 2013, was in
a gathering held by the prisoner's family in front of the Judiciary on November
27, 2017. The video of this gathering has been published by IHR.
An informed source said that about 6 prisoners have been transferred to
solitary confinement, but IHR has not been able to verify this news.
Execution sentences are usually implemented on Wednesdays at Rajai Shahr
Prison.
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12 Prisoners at Imminent Danger of Execution
At least 12 death row prisoners have been transferred to solitary confinement
in Rajai Shahr prison of Karaj in preparation for execution. It is believed
that their sentence will be implemented on Wednesday, May 5.
Iran Human Rights (IHR) warns against a new wave of execution in Iran. IHR's
spokesperson Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said:" Iranian authorities use the death
penalty to spread fear and counteract the growing movement of civil
disobedience in Iran".
According to reports by IHR at least 15 people have been executed during the
last 5 days.
Close sources have reported that at least 12 death row prisoners were
transferred to solitary confinement in the Rajaishahr prison during Sunday and
Monday, the 2nd and 3rd of May.
Among these people, an Afghan prisoner, Amir Khalili, was transferred from
Ghezelhasar Prison and another prisoner, Amir Ahmadi, from KhorinPrison of
Varamin (near Tehran).
Other names given to IHR include Jawad Sohrabi, Iman Hosseini Moghaddam, Ali
Masoumi, Ahmad Fateh-Ahmadi, Amrullah Ajdar, Mohammad Reza Kharratha, all of
whom from Rajaishahr Prison.
Except for Iman Hossein Moghaddam, who was sentenced to death on charges of
corruption on earth due to sexual assault, a charge which he has denied, the
death sentences for the remaining prisoners were issued on charges of murder.
As the executions in the Rajaishahr prison are carried out mostly on
Wednesdays, there is a danger that the prisoners' death sentences will be
carried out on Wednesday, April 25.
(source for both: Iran Human Rights)
VIETNAM:
Vietnam arrests Lao drug smuggler
Vietnam's border guards have recently detained a 62-year-old Lao man for
smuggling and transporting 40 kg of methamphetamine, 120,000 pills of lab-made
drugs and 2 cakes of heroin totaling some 885,000 U.S. dollars.
The man was detained at a Vietnam-Laos border area late last week, when he was
preparing to transfer the drugs to a Vietnamese drug dealer, according to
border guards of Vietnam's northern Son La province on Monday.
Increasingly bigger amounts of methamphetamine are being smuggled into Vietnam,
because such kind of drug is being made in bigger volumes in the Golden
Triangle at the borders of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar at lower prices,
according to local border guards and police forces.
Selling prices of methamphetamine at the Golden Triangle currently stand
