Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); September 25, 2024 Ali Afrouz and Amirhossein Boroumand were executed for murder charges in Lahijan Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Lahijan Prison in Gilan province on 23 September. Their identities have been established as 31-year-old Ali Afrouz and 34-year-old Amirhossein Boroumand who were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder in separate cases.
An informed source told IHRNGO: “Ali Afrouz was from Sari and arrested for the murder of a family member in April 2021. He was on the run for two months before turning himself in. Amirhossein was from Langroud and arrested for murder during a group fight four years ago. He consistently denied the murder and said he was trying to break it up, but some people had testified that it was him.”
At the time of writing, neither of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.
A third man named Hadi Baghbani was transferred for execution with the two men but was returned to his cell after obtaining an extension in his case.
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.
In 2023, at least 282 people including two juvenile offenders and 15 women, were executed for murder charges, the second highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 20% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2023, Iran Human Rights also recorded 857 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.