Skip to main content

87th Woman Executed Under Rouhani in Iran

A woman was hanged on Wednesday, January 30, 2019, in Nowshahr Prison, in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran.

The woman identified only as M.A, was convicted of “killing her husband.”

She had spent 6 years on death row.

The woman is the 87th woman who is executed under Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian regime’s president.

The Iranian regime is the world’s top record holder in execution of women while it has the highest per capita executions in the world.

Last month a young woman identified only as Noushin was executed in Iran, the state-run ROKNA news agency reported on December 22, 2018.

Noushin was convicted of murdering a man, Soheil, who had promised to marry her, but took advantage of her, and subsequently brutalized, blackmailed and forced her into having sexual relations with his friends.

She did this for a month before she decided to stop this situation by killing the man who was forcing her to do so.

It is worth noting that the horrific news of the execution of 24-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Zeinab Sekaanvand in October 2018, triggered a bitter debate over the execution of violence victims in Iran.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, condemned the execution of Sekaanvand Lokran, by issuing a statement on October 5, 2018, calling it a “sheer injustice.”

She stressed that the UN Human Rights Office opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, as no judiciary in any part of the world is mistake-free.

More women on death row

Dozens of women are on death row across Iran most of whom had committed murder in self-defense against domestic violence.

The names of 8 woman lingering in Urmia Central Prison on death row were previously announced as:

Chenar Salehi,

Yasna Sadeqi,

Arasteh Ranjbar,

Nazdar Vatankhah,

Tahmineh Danesh,

Farideh Hassanpour,

Shelir Khosravi,

Somayeh Ebrahimzadeh.

Another 11 death-row women prisoners are held in Qarchak Prison of Varamin. The names of the 11 women and duration of their detention in jail follows:

Azam Maleki, 8 years, charged with murder of her brother-in-law and nephew-in-law;

Narjes Tabaii, 3 years, charged with murder of her husband’s second wife;

Fereshteh Shirazi, 5 years, charged with murder of mother-in-law (sister of Assadollah

Lajevardi, the infamous warden known as the Butcher of Evin Prison);

Tahereh Noori, 12 years, charged with murder of her husband;

Roya Amirian, 14 years, charged with murder of a man harassing her on the street;

Mahtab Shafii, 3 years, charged with murder of her husband and mother-in-law;

Mahboubeh Rasouli, 7 years, charged with murder of mother-in-law;

Mahnaz Agahi, 7 years, charged with murder of her husband;

Soghra Eftekhari, 10 years, charged with murder during a conflict;

Eshrat Nazari, 6 years, charged with murder of her husband;

Samira Sabziyan.

Under the laws of the Iranian regime, the woman and the victim who has defended herself must face trials and retribution.

While the international community has adopted the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul, May 11, 2011) to protect women victims of violence, and while most countries endeavor to assist women victims of violence and protect them against the death penalty, the misogynous clerical regime in Iran does not protect the rights of women who are victims of violence, because misogyny has been institutionalized in the country’s laws and the Iranian regime is moving in the opposite direction.

The fate of the 11 women imprisoned on death row in Qarchak calls for action by international human rights organizations to investigate the injustices of the Iranian Judiciary and inhuman prison conditions. It also highlights the need to abolish the death penalty in Iran.

Source: iranhr.net, January 31, 2019


Woman Hanged in Iran


Iran Human Rights (IHR); December 30, 2018: Iranian authorities have executed a woman on murder charges, according to reports by several Iranian media outlets. 

No information regarding time and place of the execution was revealed in the reports.

On December 26, the state-run news website Young Journalists Club reported that Noushin, a 25 years old woman, has been executed on the charge of murdering her husband. However, Rokna website had published a similar story on December 22, and the format of the news implies that the execution took place on the same day, that is, December 22.

According to the reports, Noushin who was interviewed just before the implementation of the death sentence, said: “I was seeing Soheil. He seemed a nice guy to me and I believed that his claimed-wish to marry me is real. I started a relationship with him. However, he was not the person I thought I knew. After a while, he asked me to have sexual relations with his friends and threatened that he will publish our private pictures on social media if I refuse to do so. I could hardly tolerate his dirty demands more than a month. Finally, I decided to kill him and I did.”

Noushin was reportedly executed shortly after the interview was made.

According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the 517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges. 

There is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and intent.

Source: Iran Human Rights, January 31, 2019


⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.


Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!



"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Iran | Singer Amirhossein Tataloo at Grave Risk of Execution for Blasphemy

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 17, 2025: Asghar Jahangir, Iran’s Judiciary spokesman announced today that the blasphemy death conviction of Amirhossein Maghsoudloo, known as Tataloo, has been upheld by the Supreme Court and sent for enforcement. The singer’s defence lawyer, Majid Naghshi, previously reported filing a judicial review request. Reiterating its opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances, Iran Human Rights considers the use of this inhumane punishment for charges such as blasphemy to be a flagrant violation of international human rights law and calls on civil society and the international community not remain silent about Amirhossein Maghsoudlou’s death penalty.

Indiana man set for execution in state's second since 2009

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2000 killing of a police officer is set to receive a lethal injection early Tuesday in the state’s second execution in 15 years. Benjamin Ritchie, 45, has been on death row for more than 20 years after being convicted in the fatal shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a foot chase. Unless there’s last-minute court action, Ritchie is scheduled to be executed “before the hour of sunrise” at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to state officials.

Indiana executes Benjamin Ritchie

Death row inmate Benjamin Ritchie was executed by lethal injection shortly after midnight Tuesday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to Department of Correction officials. The death sentence was carried out nearly 25 years after Ritchie shot and killed Beech Grove law enforcement officer William Toney. The condemned man had been on death row since his conviction in 2002. Details about the 45-year-old’s execution were sparse. No independent media representatives were permitted to witness the process.

Texas Set to Execute Fourth Inmate of the Year

Matthew Johnson was convicted of the 2012 murder of Nancy Harris in Dallas County. Matthew Johnson’s guilt was never in question. On the stand during his 2013 trial, he admitted to the crime that landed him on death row. The attack—an early morning robbery and murder in a populous Dallas suburb—was also caught on camera. Johnson is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on May 20, exactly 13 years to the day after he robbed a Fina Whip-In convenience store in Garland and set the store clerk on fire. Johnson was convicted of the murder of Nancy Harris, the 76-year-old clerk. 

Oscar Franklin Smith, Tennessee death row inmate, declines to select execution method

Oscar Franklin Smith, a Tennessee death row inmate scheduled for execution on May 22, will die by lethal injection if the process moves forward. Smith, who was asked to choose between lethal injection and the electric chair, declined to pick, his attorney Kelley Henry, a supervisory assistant federal public defender, said. When an inmate does not choose, the method defaults to lethal injection. It's not the first time Smith has been given this grim decision and declined. That decision to not choose ultimately saved his life for three more years.

South Carolina | Death row inmate seeks to volunteer to die after friends are executed

A South Carolina death row inmate has said he wants to become his own attorney, a decision that would likely lead to his own execution after his best friend and four fellow inmates were put to death in less than a year. A 45-day delay in James Robertson's request was ordered by a federal judge, allowing time for a different lawyer to talk to him and make sure he really wants to fire his own attorneys. The consequences of his decision are likely to be lethal. The 51-year-old Robertson has been on death row since 1999 after killing both his parents in their Rock Hill home. He beat his father with the claw end of a hammer and a baseball bat and stabbed his mother. He then tried to make it look like a robbery in hopes he would get his part of their $2.2 million estate, prosecutors said.

Saudi Arabia imposes death sentence for Bible smuggling

November 28, 2014: In a recent official statement from the Saudi Arabian government, the death sentence will now be imposed on anyone who attempts to smuggle Bibles into the country. In actuality, the new law extends to the importing of all illegal drugs and "all publications that have a prejudice to any other religious beliefs other than Islam."  In other words, anyone who attempts to bring Bibles or Gospel literature into the country will have all materials confiscated and be imprisoned and sentenced to death.  Source : heartcrymissionary.com, November 28, 2014

Iran | Convicted killer hanged in Tabriz. Execution carried out by his uncle, who was plaintiff in the case

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 10, 2025: Hassan Saei, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison. His execution was carried out by his uncle, who was the plaintiff in the case. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison on 6 May 2025. His identity has been established as Hassan Saei who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. An informed source told IHRNGO: “Hassan Saei was arrested for the murder of his cousin and his maternal uncle carried out the execution.”

Florida executes Glen Rogers

Florida executes suspected serial killer once eyed for possible link to the OJ Simpson case  A suspected serial killer once scrutinized for a possible link to the O.J. Simpson case that riveted the nation in the 1990s was executed Thursday in Florida for the murder of a woman found dead in a Tampa motel room.  Glen Rogers, 62, received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke and was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m., authorities said. He was convicted in Florida of the 1995 murder of Tina Marie Cribbs, a 34-year-old mother of 2 he had met at a bar.

Wyoming Hasn't Executed Anyone In 33 Years, But It's Tried

It's been 33 years since Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan stood in his office next to his priest, warring with himself over the execution of convicted serial killer Mark Hopkinson. The state hasn't executed anyone since that day — but it's tried. In the final few moments of convicted killer Mark Hopkinson’s life, protesters converged on the Wyoming State Capitol while the governor stood in his office, with a priest by his side. The state of Wyoming executed Hopkinson by lethal injection Jan. 22, 1992, at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins — 13 years after he was convicted.