8 Men Hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were executed in Ghezelhesar Prison on 27 November. They were all sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. The identities of two of them have been established as Reza Shirzehi (Narouyi), a 24-year-old Baluch man from Zabol and Hamed Pakdel. The other two men’s identities have not been established at the time of writing.

Four other men were executed at the prison on 30 November. Two of the men have been identified as 35-year-old Amir Moradi and Amir Minayi Amrollah who were sentenced to death for drug-related offences by the Revolutionary Court.

The identities of the other two men who were probably Afghan nationals and on death row for murder, have not been established at the time of writing.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Amir Moradi was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence four years ago and was detained in Evin Prison. They transferred him to Ghezelhesar Prison a day prior to execution and representatives of the Ministry of Intelligence were present at his execution."

At the time of writing, none of their executions have 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.