4 Men Including Afghan Hanged for Murder in Ghezelhesar Prison

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison on 19 November 2025. Their identities have been established as Houshang Norouzi and Javad Sadeghi. They were both sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

Two other men were hanged at the prison on 26 November. They have been identified as Mohammad Hossein Khazayi (right photo) and Farhad Heydar (left photo), a 40-year-old Afghan national arrested around three years ago. They were also on death row for murder. Farhad was transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for his execution on Monday and visited with his family for the last time on Tuesday.

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 ten months of 2025, at least 568 people were executed for murder charges in Iran.