4 Men Including 2 Afghan Nationals Executed in Tabriz

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were executed in Tabriz Central Prison on 12 August. The four men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. Two of them have been identified as 44-year-old Mohammad Ansari Gheshlagh and 32-year-old Ali Mehdian. The two others were Afghan nationals who have not been identified at the time of writing.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Mohammad Ansari Gheshlagh was from Gheshlagh village in Tabriz and was arrested for murder during a fight four years ago. He was transferred for the gallows from Ward 4 of the prison. Ali Mehdian was from Hashtroud and arrested for murder over financial issues three years ago.”

At the time of writing, their executions 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. Crucially, while an indicative amount is set by the Judiciary every year, there is no legal limit to how much can be demanded by families of the victims. IHRNGO has recorded many cases where defendants are executed because they cannot afford to pay the blood money.

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.