Iran Human Rights (IHNRGO); February 24, 2025: Babak Hajipour and Ebrahim Khousheh, two men on death row for murder charges, were executed in Ahvaz Sepidar Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Ahvaz Sepidar Prison on 20th February 2025. His identity has been established as 49-year-old Babak Hajipour from Masjed Soleiman. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) by the Criminal Court.
An informed source told IHRNGO: “Babak was initially arrested for murder 30 years ago but was exonerated after spending four years behind bars. But they retried him in absentia while he was free and resentenced him to death. He was rearrested in 2015 and executed after spending another ten years on death row”
Another man was hanged at the prison on 24th February. His identity has been established as Ebrahim Khousheh from Karim Abad in Behbahan who spent ten years on death row for murder.
At the time of writing, their executions have 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.
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.