Iranian authorities executed four individuals on Wednesday who were convicted of selling contaminated bootleg alcohol that caused the fatal poisoning of 17 people last year, according to the judiciary.
“The death penalty for four defendants in the alcohol poisoning case has been carried out at Karaj Central Prison,” reported the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.
The four were sentenced to death in September 2023 for selling tainted alcohol that led to the deaths of at least 17 people and hospitalized over 190 others in Alborz province, west of Tehran.
Iran ranks second only to China in the number of executions carried out annually, according to human rights organizations like Amnesty International. The country banned the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages following the 1979 Islamic revolution, leading to a rise in bootleg alcohol sales on the black market. Toxic methanol occasionally contaminates the illegal alcohol, causing mass poisonings.
The most recent case, as reported by Iranian media, resulted in around 40 deaths in northern Iran over the past few months. Five individuals have been arrested in connection with the poisonings, four of whom face capital charges, according to Mizan.
In Iran, only recognized Christian minorities, such as the Armenian community, are permitted to produce and consume alcohol, and even then, only privately and discreetly to avoid offending Islamic sensibilities.