15 die of poisoning in Iran after drinking bootleg booze, state media says

TEHRAN, Iran — Fifteen people died of alcohol poisoning in Iran after consuming bootleg booze, state media reported on Wednesday, as the number of similar deaths increases across the country.

“So far, 15 people have died and 180 people have been poisoned and hospitalized,” Hossein Fazeli Harikandi, the chief justice of Alborz province, where the poisonings took place, told state news agency IRNA.

Most of those hospitalized had since been discharged, he said, but “some have gone blind,” while others were undergoing dialysis after suffering kidney damage.

Iran banned the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Ever since, smuggled and unregulated alcohol has proliferated on the black market, with methanol often added to drinks as a cheaper alternative to ethanol.

The authorities in Alborz province have arrested six people and seized more than 6,000 liters (1,585 gallons) of alcohol from a cosmetic factory before its distribution, Harikandi said.

Iran’s forensic institute said 644 people died after consuming “fake alcoholic beverages” in the year up to March, a 30-percent increase on the previous 12-month period.

In May 2022, eight people died in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas after drinking bootleg alcohol.

At least 210 people died in Iran during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 after drinking bootleg alcohol, falsely believing it to be a remedy for the virus.