Iranian officials executed four individuals on Wednesday after they were convicted of selling tainted homemade alcohol, which led to the deaths of 17 people last year, according to the judiciary. The Mizan news agency, which is linked to the judiciary, reported that the executions took place at Karaj central prison.
The individuals had been sentenced to death in September 2023 for distributing contaminated alcohol that killed at least 17 and hospitalized over 190 others in Alborz province, located just west of Tehran.
According to human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Iran has the second-highest number of executions in the world, following China. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages were banned in Iran.
Despite this, bootleg alcohol has flourished on the black market, with cases of mass poisoning due to methanol contamination regularly occurring. The most recent reports from Iranian media detailed the deaths of around 40 people in northern Iran in recent months due to tainted alcohol.
Earlier this month, Mizan reported that five people had been arrested in connection with the poisonings, with four of them facing capital charges.
While alcohol is prohibited under Islamic law in Iran, recognized Christian minorities such as the Armenian community are allowed to produce and consume alcohol discreetly behind closed doors to avoid offending Islamic practices.
