Mohammad Atari and Moharram Sarchemi Hanged in Tabriz

According to information obtained by IHRNGO, two men were hanged in Tabriz Central Prison on 13 January 2026. Their identities have been established as 37-year-old Seyed Mohammad Atari from Tabriz and 59-year-old Moharram Sarchemi, father of four, also from Tabriz.

Mohammad was arrested around five years ago. Moharram was arrested for the murder of his brother-in-law seven years ago. They were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

At the time of writing, none of their executions have 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 diya 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. At least 641 people were executed for murder charges in the first eleven months of 2025.