Ehsan Pourmasoumi Hanged for Murder in Sirjan

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Sirjan Prison, Kerman province, on 14 October 2025. His identity has been established as Ehsan Pourmasoumi who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Ehsan was from the Bachaghchi tribe of the large Turkic tribe in Sirjan and was arrested three years ago for the murder of one of his relatives named Issa Pourmasoumi during a fight at a wedding.”

“The night prior to his execution, a number of people including government officials went to the home of Issa’s mother to obtain her forgiveness. While she initially agreed, she later changed her mind for unknown reasons,” the source added.

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. 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 nine months of 2025, at least 457 people were executed for murder charges in Iran.