Dawood Abdullahi, a Kurdish prisoner of conscience, has been executed in Iran's Qazalhasar prison, local media reports said, after spending more than 14 years in prison.
The Ha-Ngao and Kurdpa news outlets reported on January 2 that Abdullahi was executed at the prison in Karaj and that his body has been handed over to family members.
News of the execution came just days after Abdullahi's family said they met with him before he was transferred to solitary confinement, often a step indicating a prisoner's death sentence is about to be carried out, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network.
Abdullahi and six other Kurds were arrested in November 2009 for allegedly murdering their teacher, Abdul Rahim Tina. Human rights organizations have repeatedly said the accused were "severely tortured" into giving forced confessions.
They were convicted of taking "action" against national security interests, propaganda against the regime, and "corruption on Earth."
The Supreme Court overturned their death sentences in 2015, but after a retrial in 2017, they were again put on death row. The Supreme Court confirmed the sentences in 2018.
The rate of executions in Iran has been rising sharply, particularly in the wake of the widespread protests triggered by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while she was in police custody for an alleged hijab violation.
Iran Human Rights said that, as of December 2023, more than 700 people have been executed in Iran, with a marked increase in recent months.
Amnesty International says the regime in Tehran executed more people than any other country in the world other than China in 2023.
Official Iranian state news outlets have reported that nine people convicted of drug trafficking have been executed in recent days.
Amnesty has accused Iranian authorities of turning prisons into "killing fields" on the back of a sharp increase in drug-trafficking convictions.
"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," Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a report in June.