FEATURED POST

After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

Published
Image
Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.

Iran | Man at Risk of Execution in Karaj due to High Diya (Blood Money) Demand

Published
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); July 23, 2024: Omid Assadi who is on death row after unintentionally killing a man in a car accident, is scheduled to be executed on 22 August if his family cannot raise the €160k demanded diya amount.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a Saqqez native named Omid Assadi is at risk of execution in Karaj Penitentiary. He was arrested after being involved in a car accident that caused the death of the other driver.

Omid was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder and has been set a deadline by Branch 6 of the Karaj Criminal Court to pay the 10 billion tomans (around €160,000) diya (blood money) demanded by the victim’s family. Omid’s family have until 22 August 2024 to raise the amount which they cannot afford.

His father, Ataollah Assadi told Iran Human Rights: “Omid’s execution was scheduled to be carried out in early June but we managed to obtain more time. In this time, I suffered one heart attack and my wife had two heart attacks due to the pressures of trying to save our son’s life.”

According to his father, Omid was the sole breadwinner of his family and has a son who suffers from thalassaemia disease.

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.

The Head of Judiciary sets an annual indicative amount for diya based on inflation and other considerations, but the victim’s family can choose their own amount. They can demand a lower or higher amount than the judiciary’s indicative number but crucially, no upper limit is set. 

The diya indicative amounts, which are determined every March, were set at 900 million tomans (€18,000) for a Muslim man and 450 million tomans (€9,000) for a Muslim woman in March 2023. 

The amount set by families is usually higher than the indicative amount and even the indicative amount is higher than what most families can afford.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, July 23, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________








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

— Oscar Wilde



Location: Karaj, Alborz Province, Iran
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Photos of maximum-security prisons in Norway and the US reveal the extremes of prison life

Published
Image
US Administrative Security Facility, or ADX Florence, in Florence, Colorado. Inside the walls of the toughest prison in the US, a fork is a deadly weapon. Inside the walls of Norway's toughest prison, a fork is, well ... a fork. The differences extend far past silverware. In just about every way, the approaches that the US and Norway take to criminal justice fall on opposite ends of the spectrum. While the US uses isolation to punish offenders and keep them away from civil society, Norway prefers to rehabilitate its inmates so they can return to the outside world — there are no life sentences . No two prisons make that difference more clear than the super-max Administrative Security Facility, or ADX Florence , in Florence, Colorado and Halden Prison , in Halden, Norway. Not all US prisons are as strict as ADX, and while Halden is technically maximum-security, it's still closer to the rule than the exception in Norway. Here's what life is like at both e
Read more

After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

Published
Image
Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.
Read more

Switzerland | The Guillotine of Geneva

Published
Image
During the French annexation, 36 prisoners were executed using this device. Built in 1799, this structure basically consists of a tall, vertical oak frame fitted with a heavy steel blade with an oblique cutting edge and suspended from the top. It was designed for a rapid execution by decapitation of those who were condemned to death in the Swiss canton of Geneva during the French period. Today it is part of the Permanent Collection at the Tavel House, the oldest building in Geneva.  
Read more

Idaho death-row inmate survived injection intended to kill him. Now state will try again.

Published
Image
A day after Idaho prison’s system advised that it is again ready to perform a lethal injection, an Ada County judge issued the latest death warrant for Thomas Creech, the state’s longest-serving death row prisoner, and scheduled him for another execution.  Creech, 74, is now set to be executed on Nov. 13. If fulfilled, the execution would be Idaho’s first in more than a dozen years. Prison officials called off Creech’s planned execution earlier this year when for nearly an hour they were unable to locate a suitable vein for an IV to inject him with the lethal chemicals. 
Read more

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denies Robert Roberson’s stay of execution request

Published
Image
(Austin, Texas, October 11, 2024) - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) – without a written opinion – has denied Robert Roberson’s request to stay his execution, scheduled for Thursday, October 17. The CCA also denied, without issuing an opinion, Mr. Roberson’s request that the Court reconsider its denial of post-conviction relief. The CCA, once again, failed to consider any of the extensive medical and scientific evidence Mr. Roberson has submitted demonstrating that his chronically ill, two-year-old daughter, Nikki, died from illness, accident, and medical error, not because of any abuse.
Read more

Wyoming | One of Matthew Shepard’s Murderers Denied Sentence Reduction

Published
Image
Russell Henderson is serving consecutive life sentences in Wyoming after being convicted of homicide and hate crime One of the men who murdered gay college student Matthew Shepard in 1998 was denied a commutation of his sentence this week, the Wyoming Board of Parole has confirmed. Russell Henderson, who along with Aaron McKinney was convicted of homicide and hate crime charges for murdering Shepard 25 years ago, is currently serving two consecutive life sentences in Wyoming prison. Henderson applied for a reduction in his sentence earlier this year per the Board’s regulations, which allow prisoners who have served at least 10 years of a life sentence to submit a commutation petition once every five years. But the board ruled against sending Henderson’s petition to the governor, Executive Director Margaret White confirmed in statements to The Advocate this week.
Read more

Activists Call on President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty Before Leaving Office

Published
Image
A conversation with Death Penalty Action Co-founder and Executive Director Abe Bonowitz. Now that Joe Biden is a lame duck president, activists are holding him accountable to make good on his promise to end the federal death penalty during his remaining six months as president. Biden’s election campaign in 2020 had pledged to end the federal death penalty and incentivize the remaining 27 states that still allow executions to do the same. While he made history as the first president in the United States to openly oppose the death penalty, there has been no movement to actually end federal executions during his nearly four years in office.
Read more

Alabama set to tie record for executions in 50 years with upcoming lethal injection

Published
Image
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) -Alabama is on track to tie its record for the most executions in a single year, as Derrick Dearman, a 35-year-old Mississippi man, is scheduled to be put to death next Thursday for the 2016 murders of five people in Mobile County. Described by officials as a “gruesome and horrific” crime, Dearman was convicted of using an axe and a gun to kill his five of his girlfriend’s relatives.
Read more

Iran Executes 16 People in One Day Amid Surge in Death Penalties

Published
Image
The Islamic Republic’s authorities have executed at least sixteen people in a single day. According to a report by the Iran Human Rights Organization, the death sentences of 13 men and one woman were carried out on Wednesday at Karaj Central Prison. On the same day, two other prisoners were also executed at Urmia Central Prison. The charges against these prisoners were listed as “premeditated murder,” “rape,” or drug-related offenses, for which they had been sentenced to death.
Read more