Six people have died from alcohol poisoning in northern Iran after consuming bootleg liquor, state media reported on Sunday. The production and consumption of alcohol have been banned in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, the black market has seen a rise in smuggled and unregulated alcohol, with methanol often being used as a cheaper alternative to ethanol.
According to the official news agency IRNA, four people died in Gilan province. Mohammad Taghi Ashoubi, president of the Gilan University of Medical Sciences, said, “Out of 20 people poisoned by either ethanol or methanol, four between the ages of 22 and 40 died due to severe poisoning.” He added that others were hospitalized, including six in serious condition.
In a similar incident in the neighboring Mazandaran province, two more people died, and three remain hospitalized, according to IRNA.
In September of last year, four individuals were sentenced to death for selling contaminated alcohol that had killed 17 people and hospitalized dozens months earlier. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, at least 210 Iranians died after consuming bootleg alcohol, mistakenly believing it could cure the virus.
In Iran, only Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian minorities are exempt from the alcohol ban, while foreigners are required to adhere to the prohibition.
