At Least 3 Men Hanged in Shiraz; 15 Transferred for Execution

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least three men were hanged in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 14 May 2025. Their identities have been established as Hadi Soleimani (middle photo), 34-year-old Naser Hamidi (right photo) and 30-year-old Issa Ahmadi (left photo). Hadi and Naser were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder and Issa was on death row for rape charges.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Hadi Shirazi was from Mianroud in Shiraz and had been arrested for murder three years ago. He was transferred to the gallows form the youth ward of the prison. Naser Hamidi was from Dezful and on death row for four years. Issa was also on death row for four years.”

“15 prisoners on death row for drug offences were transferred from Pirbanu Prison to Shiraz Central Prison for execution,” the source added.

At the time of writing, their 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. Should the victim’s family choose execution, they are not only encouraged to attend, but also to physically carry out the execution themselves.

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.

In the first four months of 2025, at least 153 people were executed for murder charges in Iran, per IHRNGO data.