Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 5, 2025: Roya Abbaszadeh and Khosrow Moradlu, a woman and man on death row for murder and drug-related offences respectively, were executed in Zanjan Central Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a woman was hanged in Zanjan Central Prison on 24 September 2025. She has been identified as 25-year-old Roya Abbaszadeh from a village between Takestan and Zanjan. She was arrested for the murder of her husband four years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) by the Criminal Court.
An informed source told IHRNGO: “Roya’s family forced her to marry someone she didn’t want to, she ended up poisoning him.”
A man was also hanged at the prison on 1st October. His identity has been established as Khosrow Moradlu, a 27-year-old father of one from Zanjan. He was arrested under three years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.
“Khosrwo was a driver prior to his arrest and had denied any knowledge of the drugs found in his car until the last minute,” the source added.
At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.
Roya Abbaszadeh is the 30th woman execution recorded in 2025 and the 22nd to be hanged for murder. Iran executes the highest number of women globally. In 2024, at least 31 women were executed for drug-related, murder and security-related charges in Iran, the highest number of recorded women executions in more than 15 years.
In January 2025, IHRNGO published a report titled “Women and the Death Penalty in Iran; a Gendered Perspective,” which sheds light on the contemporary experiences of women facing the death penalty, focusing on the discriminatory laws and societal factors that perpetuate their suffering.
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. 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. In the first nine months of 2025, at least 457 people were executed for murder charges in Iran.