Sajad Mohajer Hanged for Murder in Mashhad

According to Khorasan newspaper, a man was hanged in Mashhad (Vakil Abad) Central Prison on 14 September 2025. Only named as Sajad M, he was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. However, previous reports by other state media identified him as Sajad Mohajer who was accused of killing another man during a fight in Mashhad’s Omat Park on 2 April 2023.

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 eight months of 2025, at least 375 people were executed for murder charges in Iran.