Amirhossein Zahedi Hanged for Murder in Mashhad

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Mashhad (Vakil Abad) Central Prison on 30 October 2025. His identity has been established as Amirhossein Zahedi, a 23-year-old man arrested around three years ago. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Following a minor collision between two cars near one of Mashhad’s parks, a fight broke out between the occupants. When the driver of the parked car went to see what was going on, he was attacked by the occupants of the other car and severely wounded in the neck by a knife. Despite being taken to the hospital, he died due to the severity of his injuries and blood loss. During interrogation, Amirhossein admitted that he had been under the influence of alcohol and had stabbed the victim.”

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.