Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 23, 2025: Mohammadreza Madadi, Kazem Hamidi and Aydin Norouzi, three men on death row for drug-related and murder charges, were executed in Gorgan Central Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were hanged in Gorgan Central Prison on 22 December 2025. One of the men was sentenced to death on drug-related charges. His identity has been established as Mohammadreza Madadi, a 30-year-old tailor from Gorgan. The other two men have been identified as Kazem Hamidi, a 40-year-old father of one, and Aydin Norouzi from Gorgan. They were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. Kazem was arrested for the murder of another man during a street fight four years ago.
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 diya 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.