Payam Pakzad Hanged for Murder in Zanjan

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Zanjan Central Prison on 8 August 2026. His identity has been established as Payam Pakzad, a 41-year-old father of four from Bojnourd who resided in Zanjan.

He was arrested three years ago sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Payam had worked as a bricklayer for years. On that day, he got into a fight with another individual at the construction site he worked at.”

At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

IHRNGO previously reported the execution of Yousef Bagheri, bringing the total number of executions to two at the prison that day.

Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or mitigating factors 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 2025 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 747 people including 48 women, were executed for murder charges, the highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Under 7% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2025, IHRNGO also recorded 566 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.