Araz News: A death row prisoner was executed in Qazvin last week while his family says his case was still under consideration and review by the prosecution office and his sentence was not confirmed and put on hold. On Monday, January 2, the death sentence of Nasrollah Khazaei, on the charges of “carrying and keeping drugs” was implemented in Qazvin prison before dawn.

After the family of the executed prisoner followed his case, several Judiciary officials of the Iranian regime’s Prosecution Office in Tehran said that the prisoner should not have been executed.

The prisoner’s brother in an interview with a Persian language news agency explained: “My brother had no previous record (of committing a crime). The case was sent to Tehran according to Article 20 requesting a review but no answer was given yet. They said the case would take two years. Since then, implementation of the sentence was halted in his case, upon an order.”

“I called the prosecutor and requested an answer in this regard. They said your brother’s case is still under review and told me to call back next month. I said they have executed my brother and today is the seventh day of his memorial ceremony. They answered why did they execute him? His case is still open here and is not transferred to Qazvin. He should not have been executed. Then, they connected the phone to a number of other rooms and officials, all of whom said they shouldn’t have executed him. They said this case has received a halt of the sentence and Qazvin’s prosecution should not have done it without our permission,” he said.

Nasrollah Khazaei’s brother emphasized: “On Sunday (January 1), when we went for a meeting with my brother, they neither told us nor my brother that they are going to hang him. On Monday, at around 6 a.m., my brother called us and said they are taking him for execution. I screamingly said but the case in still being reviewed. My brother said no matter how much I tell them, they do not accept. After that, they took him away and hanged up the phone.”

By-ncr