Mehdi Motevalli and Gholamali Mashallahi Hanged in Arak

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Arak Central Prison on 15 April 2025. The man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder has been identified as Mehdi Motevalli (left photo) from a village of Khandab. He was arrested three years ago.

The man executed for drug-related offences has been identified as 43-year-old Gholamali Mashallahi (right photo) from Qom. He was a father of two who had maintained his innocence since being arrested two years ago.

At the time of writing, neither 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.

According to IHRNGO’s 2024 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 419 people including a juvenile offender and 19 women, were executed for murder charges, the highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 12% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2024, Iran Human Rights also recorded 649 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.