Iranian regime has executed five Kurdish youths jailed in a prison Urmiye, a province in eastern Kurdistan, late Wednesday.
Two of the five youths executed were reportedly siblings. The bodies of the five have been delivered to their families since last night.
The youths who were executed for allegedly being involved in smuggling activities were identified as Jandar Mirzayi and Mehrab Mirzayi from the village of Aqcheqele, Mohammad Saleh Qere Etiwend from the village of Baleka and two other youths from the village of Mastekawa and the town of Mako.
30 people have been sentenced to death in the country in the last three days, with 21 people having been executed by hanging in Qezel Hesar prison and four others in Rajayi Shahr prison in Karaj on Tuesday.
According to the fifth annual report of Iran Human Rights (IHR) on the Death Penalty in Iran – 2012, published in April 2013, at least 580 people were executed in the country last year. At least 76% of executions included in the report were due to drug related charges which still account for the majority of executions in Iran, underlined the report by the IHR, and most prisoners executed on drug-related charges are unidentified.
The number of executions in 2012 in Iran is among the highest in more than 15 years. Public executions in 2012 were more than six times higher than numbers from 2009. Besides the confirmed numbers, it is believed there is a large number of secret or unannounced executions which are estimated to have reached 325 last year.
In January and February 2013 alone, 20 people were hanged in public, the report also said.
Firat News Agency