Iran | Executions in Doroud, Qazvin, Rasht, Gorgan

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 27, 2025: Ahmad Yarmohammadi, man on death row for murder, was executed in Doroud Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Doroud Prison on 12 March. His identity has been established as Ahmad Yarmohammadi from Doroud. He was arrested for murder four years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) by the Criminal Court.

At the time of writing, his execution has 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 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

Executions in Qazvin

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO): March 27, 2025: Heidar Safdari and Sohrab Niazi, two men on death row for drug-related offences, were hanged in Qazvin Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Qazvin (Choobindar) Central Prison on 15 March 2025. Their identities have been established as 28-year-old Heidar Safdari from Zanjan and 30-year-old Sohrab Niazi from Qazvin. They were sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Heidar was arrested in Qazvin two years ago and Sohrab was arrested three years ago.”

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2024 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 503 people were executed for drug-related charges, of which only under 3% were announced by official sources. 17% of all drug-related executions in 2024 were Baluch minorities while they represent 2-6% of Iran’s population.

Executions in Rasht

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO): March 22, 2025: Faramarz Keifari and Kourosh Zare, two men on death row for drug-related offences, were hanged in Rasht Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Rasht (Lakan) Central Prison on 16 March 2025. His identity has been established as Kourosh Zare, a 36-year-old father of two who was arrested three years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges.

Furthermore, HRANA news agency reported the execution of another man named Faramarz Keifari at the same prison on 25 February. He was also on death row for drug-related offences.

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

On 10 April 2024, 80+ Iranian and international organisations and groups called for joint action to stop drug-related executions, urging UNODC to make “any cooperation with the Islamic Republic contingent on a complete halt on drug-related executions.”

Executions in Gorgan

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); January 22, 2025: Bahram Valipour and Hossein Farhadi, two men on death row for drug-related offences, were executed in Gorgan Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Gorgan Central Prison on 19 January 2025. Their identities have been established as 38-year-old Bahram Valipour and 35-year-old Hossein Farhadi, a married father of one from Gorgan. They were sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Bahram was arrested two years ago. Hossein Farhadi was an orchard caretaker prior to arrest. He was arrested four years ago.”

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, March 22-27, 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

Comments

Tennessee | Death row inmate refuses to choose between electric chair and lethal injection

Harold Nichols is scheduled to die in December for raping and murdering a student Harold Wayne Nichols, a death row inmate in Tennessee, has declined to select his preferred execution method for his scheduled December 11 death. That means that the state will proceed with lethal injection. Nichols received his death sentence in 1990 after being found guilty of the rape and murder of Karen Pulley, a 21-year-old student at Chattanooga State University, which occurred two years prior.

‘I’ll be executed on Tuesday’: families reveal panicked last calls from foreigners on Saudi’s death row

Relatives share with the Guardian final words of those killed amid ‘horrifying’ surge in capital punishment under Mohammed bin Salman’s rule In the city of Tabuk in the far north of Saudi Arabia, neon lights flicker on in an overcrowded ward of a prison marking the start of a new day. The prisoners are waiting. When the guards enter, they know someone is about to be taken away. An execution squad of about 20 guards will approach an inmate quietly, whisper something in their ear and escort them out. Some break down in tears, others simply ask for forgiveness.

Oklahoma governor spares life of death row inmate just before scheduled lethal injection

Republican Kevin Stitt commuted Tremane Wood’s death sentence to life in prison for 2002 murder of Ronnie Wipf Tremane Wood, the 46-year-old death row inmate who faced execution today in Oklahoma, has had his life spared just minutes before he was set to receive a lethal injection. Kevin Stitt, the state’s Republican governor, accepted the Oklahoma pardon and parole board’s recommendation that Wood’s sentence be commuted to life in prison without parole. It is just the second time during Stitt’s nearly seven years as governor that he has granted clemency.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

South Carolina executes Stephen Bryant

South Carolina executes killer who left bloody message, marking third firing-squad execution this year A South Carolina man convicted of killing 3 people over 5 days more than 20 years ago was executed by a firing squad on Friday evening. Stephen Bryant, 44, was executed for killing a man in his home and writing "catch me if u can" on the wall with the victim's blood. He was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m. following a firing squad. Three prison employees, all with live ammunition, volunteered to carry out the execution. Bryant is the 3rd man this year to die by South Carolina's newest execution method.

UK | Lindsay Sandiford back in London

Two British drug convicts, including a grandmother who had been on death row in Indonesia for more than a decade, arrived back in the UK on Friday. Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws, but has moved to release more than half a dozen high-profile detainees in the last year. Lindsay Sandiford, 69, was sentenced to death on the tourist island of Bali in 2013 for smuggling $2.14 million worth of cocaine into Indonesia. She was released on humanitarian grounds along with Shahab Shahabadi, 36, who had been serving a life sentence for drug offences after his arrest in 2014.

Florida | Military vets are third of inmates executed in Florida this year, report finds

A new report finds that five of the 15 people executed in Florida this year were military veterans. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is defending his modern-era record for executions this year, saying he is bringing justice to the families of victims. But a new report reveals some troubling data: Five of the 15 convicted murderers executed this year in Florida were military veterans.

Woman who watched nearly 300 executions explained moment she had to give it up

Michelle Lyons' job wasn't for the fainthearted A woman who watched nearly 300 death row executions take place over 12 years opened up about how her macabre career impacted her life. For more than a decade, it was part of Michelle Lyons' job description to observe the final moments of hundreds of prisoners in the US state of Texas. She says the process never 'become mundane or normal', although she did become acclimatized to it - as she went on to watch so many executions that she 'can't recall' a lot of them.

South Carolina man is scheduled to be executed by firing squad

A man on death row in South Carolina is scheduled to be executed by firing squad COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A man in South Carolina is scheduled to be executed Friday by a firing squad, the third person to die by that method in the state this year. Three prison employees, all with live ammunition, have volunteered to carry out the execution of Stephen Bryant, 44, who killed three people in five days in a rural area of the state in 2004. Bryant has no appeals pending before the 6 p.m. scheduled execution at the death row facility at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.

Syria | Man to be hanged for harrowing murder of eight-year-old girl, in first death sentence since Assad ouster

A court in northeast Syria has sentenced a man to death by hanging after finding him guilty of raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl. Youssef al-Dahham, 25, was convicted of raping and murdering the child in the village of Muhkan in Deir az-Zour governorate. Security forces announced on 13 August the arrest of Dahham, who reportedly confessed to the crime after interrogation. The crime dates back to August, when Dahham snatched the girl outside her home, raped and murdered her.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog