Iran | Group Hanging of at Least 8 Men in Ghezelhesar Prison

Iran Human Rights (IHNRGO); February 28, 2025: At least eight men including five Kurdish minorities were executed for murder, drug-related and mohareheh (enmity against god) charges in Ghezelhesar Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least eight men were executed in a group hanging in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj on 26 February. Six of the men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder and have been identified as Amir Jafarpanah, Yasser Abbasi, Sajad Eghbali (Geravand), 21-year-old Alireza Basatinia, all Kurdish minorities, and Mosayeb Azizi and Bahman Houshmand.

The identity of the seventh man who was on death row for drug-related offences, has been established as Mostafa Hojeir Pirouz, a 40-year-old Kurdish man.

The eighth man who has not been identified at the time of writing, was sentenced to death on the charge of moharebeh for armed robbery.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Amir Jafarpanah was from Bijar and arrested for the murder of his maternal aunt and her husband five years ago. Alireza Basatinia was from Ilam and had been on death row for a year. Sajad Eghbali was arrested three years ago. Mosayeb Azizi was from Arak and Bahman Houshmand was from Hamedan.”

“Mostafa Hojeir was from Asad Abad in Hamedan and arrested for drug offences five years ago.”

At the time of writing, only the execution of the unidentified man executed for moharebeh charges has been announced by official sources. According to ISNA, the unnamed man was sentenced to death for “moharebeh through participating in several armed robberies with use of swords, machete and daggers.”

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 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.

According to IHRNGO’s 2024 Annual Report on the Death Penalty,, at least 419 people including a juvenile offender and 19 women, were executed for murder charges, the highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 12% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2024, Iran Human Rights also recorded 649 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, February 28, 2025

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

— Oscar Wilde

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