Vakilabad Prison (زندان وکیل‌آباد), also called Central Prison of Mashhad (زندان مرکزی مشهد), is a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, located in the city of

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...

in the northeast of the country. The prison has reportedly been the site of hundreds of secret

executions Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

carried out by the

Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

government.

Secret executions

The

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran The Center for Human Rights in Iran (formerly the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran; ICHRI) is an American non-government organization that aims to promote human rights in Iran. The group started in late 2007 when several human right ...

(ICHRI) and other sources have reported on secret executions taking place in Vakilabad Prison throughout 2011, primarily on drug-related offenses. ICHRI has documented that the following secret mass executions have taken place inside the prison: In October 2011, a report released by

Ahmed Shaheed Ahmed Shaheed ( dv, ޝަހީދު, born January 27, 1964) is a Maldivian diplomat, politician and professor. On 24 March 2016, he was appointed for the sixth year running as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in t ...

, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, documented more than 300 secret executions in Vakilabad in 2010 and at least 146 secret executions in the prison to date in 2011.

Notable prisoners

Ahmad Ghabel Ahmad Ghabel ( fa, احمد قابل) was an Iranian Hojjatoleslam Shia Muslim cleric, theologian, seminary lecturer, researcher, and author. He was a follower of the dissident cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and was detained several time ...

, Iranian religious scholar and political dissident. In August 2011, he was sentenced to a 20-month prison sentence in Vakilabad for reporting on mass executions taking place within the prison.

References

Prisons in Iran Capital punishment in Iran Buildings and structures in Mashhad Iranian entities subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions {{Iran-stub

Secret executions

Notable prisoners

Further reading

References