Iranian officials hanged four people on Wednesday after they were convicted of distributing tainted bootleg alcohol that killed 17 people last year.
“The death penalty against four defendants in the case of poisoning caused by the consumption of alcoholic beverages was carried out at Karaj central prison,” stated Mizan, the news agency owned by the judiciary.
The offenders were sentenced to death in September 2023 for selling poisoned wine, which killed at least 17 people and hospitalised over 190 others in Alborz province, west of Tehran.
According to human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Iran executes the most people each year after China.
Following the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran outlawed the manufacturing and use of alcoholic drinks.
Since then, bootleg alcohol sales have skyrocketed on the underground market, with deadly methanol occasionally contaminating natural ethanol, causing widespread poisoning.
The latest occurrence reported by Iranian media resulted in the deaths of over 40 persons in northern Iran in recent months.
Mizan reported earlier this month that five persons had been detained in connection with the poisonings, four of whom faced capital penalties.
Only acknowledged Christian minorities in Iran, such as the Armenian minority, are permitted to make and use alcohol, but discreetly and behind closed doors in order to avoid offending Islamic sensibilities.