3 Men Executed for Murder in Tabriz

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were executed in Tabriz Central Prison on 2 July. Two of the men’s identities have been established as 47-year-old Reza Ahmadzadeh and 36-year-old Bahram Moharami. The third man’s identity has not been established at the time of writing. All three men were from Tabriz and had been sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Reza Ahmadzadeh was arrested three years ago and sentenced to qisas. Bahram Moharami was arrested for the murder of his wife two years ago.”

Rokna reported the execution of a man only identified as Mansour without specifying the date and location of the execution. He was sentenced to qisas for the murder of his mother-in-law. This appears to be the third unidentified man.

At the time of writing, the executions of Reza and Bahram have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or circumstances due to a lack of grading in law. Once a defendant has been convicted, the victim’s family are required to choose between death as retribution, diya (blood money) or forgiveness.

In 2023, at least 282 people including two juvenile offenders and 15 women, were executed for murder charges, the second highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 20% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2023, Iran Human Rights also recorded 857 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.