Zargham Jahandidesuha Hanged in Ardabil Despite Paying Blood Money

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Ardabil Central Prison on 30 December 2024. His identity has been established as 36-year-old Zargham Jahandidesuha who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Zargham was arrested for murder five years and five  months ago and held in Ardabil Central Prison since. The victim’s family initially asked for 30 billion tomans as diya and the condition that he leaves the village to forgo execution. Ultimately, charitable people collected 50 billion tomans but the victim’s family went back on their promise and he was executed.”

At the time of writing, his 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.