Iran | Executions in Shiraz, Sari

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 14, 2025: Saber Fathollahi and Zaki Zakeri, an Afghan national, were executed for drug-related offences in Shiraz Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 9 March. Their identities have been established as 30-year-old Saber Fathollahi from Rasht and 27-year-old Zaki Zakeri from Jalal Abad in Afghanistan. They were sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Saber Fathollahi was arrested three years ago. Zaki Zakeri was arrested two years ago and though his family live in Mashhad, they weren’t able to have a last visit with him.”

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.

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.”

Execution in Sari

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 14, 2025: Majid Vahidi, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Sari Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Sari Central Prison on 12 March. His identity has been established as Majid Vahidi, a 26-year-old motorcycle and bicycle mechanic who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Majid Vahidi was arrested in July 2021 for allegedly killing his friend during an argument that turned physical.”

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.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, March 14, 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

François Mitterrand, the Justice Minister Who Sent 45 Men to the Guillotine

The socialist president celebrated for abolishing the death penalty in France sent 45 condemned men to the guillotine when he was Minister of Justice. In French political history, François Mitterrand is the father of the historic victory of May 1981. He remains associated with one of the greatest moral laws of the Fifth Republic: the definitive end of capital executions, carried through with Robert Badinter in the autumn of 1981.

Medical experts shocked by Tennessee team’s ‘malpractice’ in Christa Pike’s failed execution

New details of IV team’s attempts to find a vein shared by Pike’s lawyer ‘shocked and disturbed’ practitioners Medical experts have expressed shock at the apparent incompetence shown by Tennessee’s execution team during the failed lethal injection of Christa Pike , the prisoner who survived a normally fatal dose of pentobarbital, which they say would be considered medical malpractice in any other setting.

Indiana Parole Board hears testimony on clemency for man scheduled for Nov. 5 execution

Jeffrey Weisheit set his house on fire in 2010, killing his girlfriend’s two young children he was watching. The Indiana Parole Board will now make a recommendation in the coming days to Governor Mike Braun on whether to grant clemency to condemned killer Jeffrey Weisheit. Jeffrey is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 5 for the 2010 murder of his girlfriend's 2 children in Vanderburgh County.

Florida executes William Reaves

Florida puts 77-year-old man to death for a deputy's killing in its 18th execution this year Florida carried out its 18th execution of the year on Tuesday under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ’ aggressive use of the death penalty in his final term. William Reaves, 77, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 shooting death of Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkowski.

Saudi Arabia executes woman, 'terrorists', 'indecent' couple, and juvenile offenders

Saudi Arabia carried out a series of executions in mid-October, including that of a woman convicted of killing her mother and attempting to kill her sister, alongside five men in the Eastern Province. Official statements described the five as terrorists; human rights groups described them as political prisoners sentenced under discretionary (ta’zir) penalties, one of whom was a child at the time of the alleged acts. The cases illustrate the kingdom’s continued use of the death penalty under Sharia, its stated commitment to public order and justice, and criticism from human rights organizations over the scope of capital punishment.

Florida Rapper Convicted of Killing Pregnant Girlfriend Asks for Death Penalty

A 28-year-old Tampa rapper convicted of killing his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child has asked a Florida judge to sentence him to death, waiving his lawyers’ mitigation arguments. Billy Adams III’s unusual request—and the jury’s split recommendation—sets up a complex sentencing hearing on December 1. Billy Adams III, a 28-year-old Tampa rapper known professionally as Ace NH, has asked a Florida judge to sentence him to death following his conviction for the January 2023 killings of his pregnant girlfriend, Alana Sims, and her unborn child. His request, made in a handwritten letter filed with the court on October 12, 2026, comes after a jury recommended life imprisonment for Sims’ murder but voted 8–4 in favor of execution for the death of her unborn child.

Execution date set for killer who strangled couple inside their Florida Keys home

A Death Row inmate from the Florida Keys who tied up and strangled a pregnant third-grade teacher and her husband after breaking into their home more than three decades ago may soon be executed. Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a death warrant for Thomas Mitchell Overton, 70, who was convicted and condemned to die for the Aug. 22, 1991, murders of Susan “Missy” MacIvor, 29, and Michael MacIvor, 30. The MacIvors were expecting their first child, planning to name him Kyle Patrick. Overton’s execution is scheduled for Nov. 19 at Florida State Prison in Raiford. It’s scheduled to be the 20th execution in the state so far this year and the first involving a case out of Monroe County. Last year, Michael Tanzi, 48, was executed for murdering a Miami Herald employee he carjacked and sexually assaulted in the Keys in 2000.

Florida | William Reaves set to be executed on Oct. 20 at 6 p.m.

With his execution date looming, convicted killer William Reaves will soon be moved from Raiford's Union Correctional Institution to a death watch cell in nearby Florida State Prison, a maximum-security complex also known as "The Rock." Reaves, 77, a former Gifford resident in Indian River County who’s been on death row for 38 years, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. His execution will fulfill a sentence of death imposed for the 1986 fatal shooting of Indian River County Sheriff’s Cpl. Richard “Raz” Raczkoski outside a Zippy Mart store on State Road 60 west of Vero Beach.

Saudi Arabia executes two Bangladeshis over 'immoral act' inside mosque

Saudi Arabia has carried out the death penalty on two Bangladeshi nationals in Mecca. The country's Interior Ministry announced this in a statement on Wednesday. According to the report, they were sentenced over allegations of involvement in immoral acts inside a mosque in Mecca. The information was reported by Ajel News, citing the Saudi Interior Ministry's statement. The two Bangladeshis executed were a man and a woman, Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Sithi Akhter. The “immoral acts” referred to illicit heterosexual intercourse, not homosexual activity.

The execution of 2 Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia explained

What we know about the executions of Suety Akhter and Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir in Saudi Arabia and the diplomatic fallout it's created Clutching a picture of his daughter, Fazal Mia is still in shock that he was not told that his child, Suety Akhter, would be executed in Saudi Arabia. After leaving Bangladesh to work in the Gulf kingdom, Akhter sent money home for the first 5 months before calling her family one day to say she had been imprisoned. The family then found out from news reports that their daughter was handed the death penalty, alongside another Bangladeshi citizen, Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog