Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 5 February 2026: Iraj Mostafavi, Bakhtiar Shahabi and Hassan Alayi-Bakhsh were executed for separate murders in Gorgan Central Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were hanged in Gorgan Central Prison on 4 February 2026. Their identities have been established as 43-year-old Iraj Mostafavi, Bakhtiar Shahabi and 28-year-old Hassan Alayi-Bakhsh.
Iraj was arrested for an “honour killing” around three years ago, Bakhtiar was arrested around six years ago and Hassan was arrested for a murder that took place in the course of a street fight three years ago. They were all 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.
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.