5 Men Hanged in Shiraz

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were hanged in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 28 September 2025. Three of them were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. Their identities have been established as 43-year-old Esmail Rahimitabar (right photo) from the village of Kuh Mareh Sorkhi in Shiraz, 43-year-old Mehran Sahrayi from Isfahan and 33-year-old Manouchehr Shahbazi from Kazeroun. Esmail was arrested for an honour killing five years ago, Mehran was arrested five years ago and Manouchehr was also arrested for an honour killing four years ago.

The fourth man has been identified as Ghodrat Dehghani from Shiraz. He was arrested four years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges.

Furthermore, another man was hanged at the prison on 24 September. His identity has been established as 28-year-old Aria Soltani (left photo) from Shiraz who was arrested for murder over five years ago. IHRNGO previously reported the executions of Kamran Ramin Amirzadegan and Morad Hemati, bringing the total number of executions to three at the prison that day.

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