Tabriz

This page holds 253 names from Tabriz, from 16 Khordad 1388 to 6 Mehr 1405. The list for Tabriz is, more than anything, the list of this city's central prison: 223 of these people were executed. 12 people were killed in protests, 4 people lost their lives in custody and one person was killed by government forces outside the protests. And this page is not yet closed: 9 people are at risk of execution, 2 people have been sentenced to death, the sentence of one person has been upheld and one person faces a charge that carries the death penalty.

Years and ages

The year 1404, with 56 names, is the heaviest year of this page, and the year 1394, with 42 names, comes after it. The years 1396 and 1405 with 24 names each, 1395 with 23 names, 1403 with 17 names, 1392 with 14 names and 1398 with 13 names also have a large share. The day 3 Mehr 1395, with 10 executions, has the highest number in a single day; after it come 9 Mordad 1392 and 16 Shahrivar 1404 with 7 names each, and 10 Khordad 1394 and 18 Shahrivar 1394 with 5 names each.

The ages range from 16 to 71 years, and the median is 35 years. The sources have written of 25 people that they were women, and one person was under 18 at the time of death. But as you will read below, several others were arrested as children and executed after reaching the age of 18.

Children who were kept waiting for their 18th birthday

Fardin Jafarian, 18 years old, “was an athlete and had also won victories in taekwondo.” The source writes: “He was 14 years old at the time of the crime” and “was in prison for 4 years until he reached the age of 18.” He was executed on 26 Mehr 1393 in the grounds of Tabriz Central Prison. Hassan Hassanzadeh “was only fifteen years old at the time of the killing attributed to him” and was hanged on 29 Dey 1395 at the age of 18. Rahim Nourollahzadeh, 19 years old, who according to the source “was under 14 years old at that time,” was executed on 4 Azar 1393. Abdollah Ajamlou was arrested “at the age of 19,” remained in prison for 11 years and was executed on 17 Dey 1392; his family say he had been tortured to extract a confession.

Rana Farajoghli and others

Rana Farajoghli was 24 years old. The source writes: “When she was 16, against her will and under pressure from her family, she married a man who was 19 years older than her and had three children.” She said in court that these years had passed for her “like death.” Rana was hanged on 12 Azar 1404 in Tabriz Central Prison.

Zahra Nemati and her husband Amirali Zadegan Eskandar were both executed on 16 Dey 1394; the source writes that Zahra was hanged “together with her husband, her husband's uncle and one other person.” Sirvan Nezhavi, who according to the source was a member of PJAK and had taken part in the hunger strike of Kurdish political prisoners, was executed on 18 Mordad 1394 “without the knowledge of his family and without a visit with them,” while “at the time of the execution his case had a stay of execution.” Mohammad Teymouri, 45 years old, father of 2 children, was once taken to the foot of the gallows in Ordibehesht 1394 and brought back, but was executed on 7 Mordad 1394. Majid Talebian, 43 years old, “father of a young child,” was executed on 30 Aban 1403.

This list is not complete

253 names are not all of those from Tabriz who lost their lives. The real number is higher, and many executions remained without names. We record only a name that has a source. The charges mentioned on this page are charges stated by the authorities or the sources, not a verdict of guilt. The main sources are the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center with 117 cases, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network with 85, the Iran Human Rights Society with 69, HRANA with 31, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (English-language) with 26, Iran Human Rights with 17, iranhrs.org with 8, and iranintl.com and Iran International with 5 cases each. Some entries have only one source. If you knew one of these people of Tabriz, send us your memory or correction.