3 Men Executed in Karaj Penitentiary

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were executed in Karaj Penitentiary (Central Prison on) 9 October. Their identities have been established as 52-year-old Majid Afrouz, 40-year-old Mohammad Mashmoul and 45-year-old Ebrahim Sedigh who were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder in separate cases. They were transferred for execution from Hall 7 of the prison.

IHRNGO previously reported the execution of 11 others in Ghezelhesar Prison on 9 October, bringing the number of executions in Karaj to 14 that day.

At the time of writing, the three men’s 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.

On 10 April 2024, 80+ Iranian and international organisations and groups called for joint action to stop drug-related executions, urging UNODC to make “any cooperation with the Islamic Republic contingent on a complete halt on drug-related executions.”