The Twelfth Anniversary of the Retaliatory Execution of Sixteen Baloch Prisoners in Zahedan Central Prison
According to the Balochistan Human Rights Group, today, October 26, 2025 (Aban 4, 1404 in the Iranian calendar), marks the twelfth anniversary of the retaliatory execution of sixteen Baloch prisoners — including eight political prisoners (two of whom were minors at the time of arrest) and eight others convicted on drug-related charges — who were executed at dawn on October 26, 2013, in Zahedan Central Prison. Their bodies were secretly buried in a cemetery outside the city.
This tragic event occurred following an armed attack by the group “Jaish al-Adl” on a border post in the Saravan region on the night of October 25, 2013, and is remembered as one of the darkest days in the collective memory of the Baloch nation.
The identities of the eight executed political prisoners are as follows:
- Mehrallah Rigi Maharnia, 22, son of Nazar (17 at the time of arrest)
- Abdolwahab Rigi, 23, son of Mohammad Reza (18 at the time of arrest)
- Habibollah Rigi-Nezhad Shouraki, son of Mohammad
- Nazer Mollazehi, 23, son of Habib
- Hamed Vekalat, 28, son of Abdolhakim
- Salman Miaei (Jedgal), 25, son of Jan Mohammad
- Ayoub Bahramzehi, son of Gol Mohammad
- Saeed Narouei, son of Mirza
The identities of the eight prisoners executed on drug-related charges are as follows:
- Azam Gorgij, son of Gomshad
- Davoud Mirbalochzehi, son of Abdolrashid
- Hassan Rezaei, son of Mirza
- Habib Toutazeh, son of Mohammad Akbar
- Naser Shahbakhsh, son of Mohammad Hassan
- Ahmad Dahmardeh, son of Khoda Rahm
- Hassan Barahouei, son of Feyz Mohammad
- Najibollah Bahadri, son of Amir
These executions took place just one day after the armed attack on the Saravan border post, in which at least 14 security forces were killed and 7 others wounded. Iranian judicial authorities — including Mohammad Marzieh, the then-prosecutor of Zahedan — described these executions as an act of “retaliation” for the attack.
Families of the executed prisoners were given no prior notice of the executions. It was later revealed that eight of those executed were accused of drug-related offenses and the other eight of political charges — and that some did not even have finalized death sentences. These rushed and retaliatory executions took place while several of their cases were still under judicial review.
Human rights organizations and activists — including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Shirin Ebadi, Sarah Leah Whitson, Ahmad Shaheed (then UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran), the Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI), and the Confederation of Human Rights Societies — condemned the mass execution as a “retaliatory, unlawful act that violates international human rights standards.”
October 26 — the day when the blood of defenseless Baloch sons was shed on the soil of Zahedan — remains a symbol of injustice, hatred, and the deep-seated enmity of the ruling system toward the Baloch nation. The memory and names of those victims will forever remain alive in the collective conscience of the Baloch people.
