Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); January 24, 2025: Omid Bashartlu, Javad Jaberi and an unidentified Afghan national were executed for murder charges in Ghezelhesar Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj, Alborz province, on 22nd January 2025. Two of the men have been identified as Omid Bashartlu and Javad Jaberi. The third man who was an Afghan national, has not been identified at the time of writing. All three men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.
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 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.