Iran | Man Executed in Zahedan, Man Executed in Mashhad, 8 Men Executed in Rajai Shahr Prison in One Day

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 26, 2022: Abdollah Barahouyi, a Baluch man sentenced to death on drug-related charges was executed in Zahedan Central Prison.

According to the Baluch Activists Campaign, a Baluch man was executed on May 21. His identity has been reported as Zahedan-native, Abdollah Barahouyi who was sentenced to death for drug-related offences.

The execution of Esmail Shehbakhsh, another Baluch prisoner was previously reported at the same prison on that day.

At the time of writing, neither of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

According to reports compiled by Iran Human Rights, at least 126 people were executed on drug-related charges in 2021, a fivefold increase compared to drug executions in the previous three years. None of the 2021 drug-relateZd executions were reported by official sources.

Data gathered by Iran Human Rights also shows that Baluch prisoners accounted for 21% of all executions in 2021, while only representing 2–6% of Iran’s population.

Unidentified Man Executed for Murder in Mashhad

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 26, 2022: A man only named as Elias. Gh was executed for murder charges in Mashhad Central Prison.

According to Khorasan newspaper, a man was executed in Mashhad Central Prison on the morning of May 22. His identity was reported as 29-year-old Elias. Gh who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by Branch Five of the Khorasan-Razavi Criminal Court.

The 29-year-old man is alleged to have committed the murder during a staged accident on 10 October 2018. His sentence was upheld by Branch 28 of the Supreme Court.

According to data gathered by Iran Human Rights, at least 183 people were executed on murder charges in 2021. 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.

8 Men Executed in Rajai Shahr Prison in a Day

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 26, 2022: Eight men who were sentenced to death for armed robbery and murder, were executed in Rajai Shahr Prison in one day.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, eight men were executed in Rajai Shahr Prison on the morning of May 25. Six of the men have been identified as Ramin Arab, Abbas Bitarafan, Gholamhossein Zeinali, Ali Nosrati, Vahid Mianabadi and Ali Montazeri.

Ramin Arab was sentenced to death on charges of moharebeh (enmity against God) through armed robbery and the other seven men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

Ten men were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions over the last few days. Most of them were held in Ward 2 prior to their execution. Two of the men were returned to their cells after obtaining extensions from their victim’s family.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Karim Bagheri the football player was at the prison and was trying to gain forgiveness for Abbas Bitarafan from the victim’s family but they refused. Karim Bagheri also tried to speak to the other families and eventually two of the men were returned to their cells.”

“Ramin Arab had severely self-harmed prior to execution and was transferred to the hospital. They took him to the gallows from the hospital,” the source added.

Yesterday, Tehran Prosecutor Ali Salehi announced that a prisoner with the initials R.A had been executed. Though the location was not specified, he seemed to have been referring to Ramin Arab.

At the time of writing, the other seven prisoners’ executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, May 26-27, 2022

🚩 | 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

Boston Marathon bomber’s appeal of death sentence marked by delays and secrecy

As the city marks the 12th anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sits on federal death row for admittingly detonating bombs at the finish line that killed three people and injured more than 260 others. Yet, his fate remains uncertain after a decade of legal wrangling, as his lawyers continue to challenge his death sentence. The federal judge who presided over his 2015 trial was ordered by an appeals court in March 2024 to investigate defense claims that two jurors were biased and should have been stricken from the panel. If he finds they were, then Tsarnaev is entitled to a new trial over whether he should be sentenced to life in prison or death, according to the appeals court.

USA | Who are the death row executioners? Disgraced doctors, suspended nurses and drunk drivers

These are just the US executioners we know. But they are a chilling indication of the executioners we don’t know Being an executioner is not the sort of job that gets posted in a local wanted ad. Kids don’t dream about being an executioner when they grow up, and people don’t go to school for it. So how does one become a death row executioner in the US, and who are the people doing it? This was the question I couldn’t help but ask when I began a book project on lethal injection back in 2018. I’m a death penalty researcher, and I was trying to figure out why states are so breathtakingly bad at a procedure that we use on cats and dogs every day. Part of the riddle was who is performing these executions.

Singapore executes man for 2017 murder of pregnant wife and daughter

Teo Ghim Heng, who strangled his pregnant wife and four-year-old daughter in 2017 before burning their bodies, was executed on 16 April 2025 after exhausting all legal avenues. His clemency pleas were rejected and his conviction upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2022. Teo Ghim Heng, who was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and their four-year-old daughter in 2017, was executed on 16 April 2025. The Singapore Prison Service confirmed that Teo’s death sentence was carried out at Changi Prison Complex. In a news release on the same day, the police stated: “He was accorded full due process under the law, and was represented by legal counsel both at the trial and at the appeal. His petitions to the President for clemency were unsuccessful.”

Indiana Supreme Court sets May 20 execution date for death row inmate Benjamin Ritchie

The condemned man has exhausted his appeals but is likely to seek a clemency plea. Indiana Supreme Court justices on Tuesday set a May 20 execution date for death row inmate Benjamin Ritchie, who was convicted in 2002 for killing a law enforcement officer from Beech Grove. The high court’s decision followed a series of exhausted appeals previously filed by Ritchie and his legal team. The inmate’s request for post-conviction relief was denied in Tuesday’s 13-page order, penned by Chief Justice Loretta Rush, although she disagreed with the decision in her opinion.

USA | They were on federal death row. Now they may go to a supermax prison.

A group of federal prisoners filed a lawsuit this week accusing the Trump administration of seeking to move them to a supermax prison to face tougher conditions as punishment for having their death sentences commuted by President Joe Biden. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life in prison without parole. After his inauguration, Trump ordered that the former death row prisoners be housed “in conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes and the threats they pose.”

South Carolina executes Mikal Mahdi

Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers A man facing the death penalty for committing two murders was executed by firing squad on Friday, the second such execution in the US state of South Carolina this year. Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers, an off-duty police officer, and the murder of a convenience store employee three days earlier. According to a statement from the prison, "the execution was performed by a three-person firing squad at 6:01 pm (2201 GMT)," with Mahdi pronounced dead four minutes later.

Indonesia | British grandmother who has spent 12 years on death row hugs grandchildren for first time as they visit Bali prison

Lindsay Sandiford, 68, reportedly shared 'cuddles and kisses' with her loved ones for the first time in years A British grandmother who has been stuck on death row in Bali for more than a decade has been reunited with her loved ones for the first time in years. Lindsay Sandiford has been locked up in Indonesia's notorious Kerobokan Prison since 2013 after being found guilty of trying to smuggle £1.6million of cocaine into the country.

Afghanistan | Four men publicly executed by Taliban with relatives of victims shooting them 'six or seven times' at sport stadium

Four men have been publicly executed by the Taliban, with relatives of their victims shooting them several times in front of spectators at a sport stadium. Two men were shot around six to seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the centre of Afghanistan's Badghis province, witnesses told an AFP journalist in the city. The men had been 'sentenced to retaliatory punishment' for shooting other men, after their cases were 'examined very precisely and repeatedly', the statement said. 'The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace but they refused.'

Louisiana to seek death penalty for child killer despite Biden’s commutation

CATAHOULA PARISH, La. — While a federal death row sentence has been reclassified by former President Joe Biden to life without parole, the State of Louisiana still seeks the death penalty for a man convicted of the kidnapping, torturing and murdering a child in Catahoula Parish. According to a statement by the Seventh Judicial District of Louisiana District Attorney Bradley Burget, on Monday, a Catahoula Parish Grand Jury indicted Thomas Steven Sanders for the first-degree murder of 12-year-old Lexis Kaye Roberts in 2010.

Oklahoma | Richard Glossip moved to Oklahoma County Detention Center after decades on death row

After nearly 30 years behind bars, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February that Glossip did not receive a fair trial. OKLAHOMA CITY — Richard Glossip, who spent decades on death row and came close to the execution chamber several times, has been moved to the Oklahoma County Detention Center. Online records show that Glossip was booked into the Oklahoma County jail shortly after 2:40 a.m. Tuesday on a first-degree murder charge. He was previously being held at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Glossip, who is being held without bond, was convicted of a murder-for-hire plot of hotel owner Barry Van Treese in January 1997. He has maintained his innocence since his conviction, and experts said evidence was withheld during his trial.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog