Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 21 April 2026: Naser Taheri and Yahya Masoumi, two men on death row for separate murders, were executed in Zanjan Central Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Zanjan Central Prison on 8 April 2025. Their identities have been established as Naser Taheri (photo), a 44-year-old father of two from Zanjan, and Yahya Masoumi, a Qazvin native who was around 40.
Naser was arrested for a murder that took place after a fight around three years ago and Yahya was arrested five 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.
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 2025 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 747 people including 48 women, were executed for murder charges, the highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Under 7% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2025, IHRNGO also recorded 566 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.