Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 6, 2025: Jafar Pourverdi, Heydar Rezayipour and Houshang Rahmantalab, three men on death row for separate murders, were executed in Rasht Central Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were hanged in Rasht Central Prison on 1st October 2025. Their identities have been established as 35-year-old Jafar Pourverdi from Amol, 40-year-old Heydar Rezayipour from Rasht and 46-year-old Houshang Rahmantalab (photo) from Rasht.
Jafar was arrested six years ago, Heydar and Houshang were arrested four years ago. They were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for separate murders by the Criminal Court.
An informed source told IHRNGO: “Houshang was a crane operater and had got into a fight with someone at work that led to the other man being killed.”
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. 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.