Ashkan Fathi Executed in Isfahan; Morteza Ghasemi at Imminent Risk

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison on 7 December. His identity has been established as Ashkan Fathi who was around 21 years old. He was arrested two years ago and sentenced  to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Ashkan Fathi admitted to the murder and said he had done it because of the rape committed against him. Two men had taken him drinking and had spiked his drink so he passed out. When he woke up, he realised he had been raped. After ten days, Ashkan seeks revenge and kills one of the men by hitting him over the head with a ghandshekan (a small sharp hammer used to break sugar cubes) on his street. That’s why he stated in court that he had killed him because he had raped him and he didn’t regret it.”

It should be noted that Article 302 of the Islamic Penal Code grants immunity to defendants for killing rapists.

Another man named Morteza Ghasemi who is also on death row for murder, was transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for his execution in the coming days.

At the time of writing, Ashkan Fathi’s execution has 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.