Alireza Forouhandeh Hanged for Murder in Self-Defence Against Rape as Teenager

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Ardabil Central Prison on 23 November 2025. His identity has been established as 23-year-old Alireza Fourhandeh from Pars Abad. He was arrested around four years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Alireza was arrested for the murder of [name retracted by IHRNGO] when he was 18 years old. In court, he testified that the victim was drunk and had attempted to rape him. In self-defence, Alireza had hit him on the head with a stone.”

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