Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 14, 2025: Hamideh Jabari and Manouchehr Rezayi, a woman and man on death row for separate murders, were executed in Qom Central Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a woman and man were hanged in Qom Central Prison on 13 December 2025. Their identities have been established as 41-year-old Hamideh Jabari from Saveh and 26-year-old Manouchehr Rezayi from Shahriar, Tehran.
Hamideh was arrested for the murder of her husband four years ago and Manouchehr Rezayi who was arrested for murder during a street fight four years ago. They were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.
At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.
Hamideh Jabari is the 45th woman execution recorded in 2025 and the 30th to be hanged for murder charges. This is the highest number of women executions recorded in Iran in more than two decades. Iran executes the highest number of women globally.
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. At least 641 people were executed for murder charges in the first eleven months of 2025.