Unidentified 21-year-old Man Executed in Mashhad

According to the official Khorasan newspaper, a man was executed in Mashhad Central Prison on July 5. Sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, he has only been identified as 21-year-old Mehdi.G.

Mehdi is reported to have killed one of his friends while he was drunk after a wedding in a village in Khorasan Razavi on 19 August 2019, when he was 19 years old.

The newspaper had previously reported the executions of a 37-year-old man identified as M and a 70-years-old man identified as A.A in Mashhad Central Prison on June 30.

According to Iran Human Rights’ Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 211 of the 267 people executed in 2020 were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for "premeditated murder."

As there are no legal distinctions made between murder and manslaughter, whether voluntary or involuntary in Iran, those charged under the umbrella term of “premeditated murder” will receive the death penalty regardless of intent and the circumstances.