Iran | Executions in Hamedan, Tabria, Arak, Doroud, Ghezel Hesar

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 25, 2025: Akbar Sheikhi, a man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Hamedan Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Hamedan Central Prison on 23 April 2025. His identity has been established as 25-year-old Akbar Sheikhi from Hamedan.

He was arrested five years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges.

At the time of writing, his execution has 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 Tabriz

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 24, 2025: Mehran Zolfi and Asghan Nourinia, two men on death row for drug-related offences in separate cases, were executed in Tabriz Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Arak Central Prison on 23 April 2025. Their identities have been established as 27-year-old Mehran Zolfi from Tabriz and 35-year-old Asghar Nourinia from Jolfa.

Mehran was arrested four years ago and Asghar, three years ago. They were both sentenced to death on drug-related charges.

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

Execution in Arak

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 24, 2025: Reza Tabarteh Farahani, a man on death row for “rape by sodomy,” was executed in Arak Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Arak Central Prison on 22 April 2025. His identity has been established as Reza Tabarteh Farahani who was sentenced to death on charges of “rape by sodomy.”

At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

In cases of rape, there is a high chance of defendants being tortured to make false confessions which are used to issue death sentences. Iran is one of the few countries in the world that sanctions the death penalty for rape and sexual offences.

According to the 2024 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 22 people were executed for rape charges across 10 prisons.

Execution in Doroud

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 24, 2025: Javad Goudarzi, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Doroud Prison.

According to HRANA news agency, a man was hanged in Doroud Prison in Lorestan province on 20 April 2025. His identity has been reported as Javad Goudarzi who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

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 Yazd

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 24, 2025: Vahid Narouyi, a Baluch minority, Yarouli Mahmoudvand and Rashid Seyedzadeh were executed for drug-related offences in Yazd Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were hanged in Yazd Central Prison on 22 April 2025. Their identities have been established as Vahid Narouyi, a Baluch man from Zahedan, Yarouli Mahmoudvand from Khorramabad, and Rashid Seyedzadeh from Aligudarz.

They were all sentenced to death on drug-related charges in separate cases. Vahid and Yarouli were arrested five years ago and Rashid was arrested four years ago.

At the time of writing, none of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Five executions in Gesel Hesar

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 24, 2025: Five men including an Afghan national, two Kurdish and one Baluch minorities named Abdollah Pashtouyi, Mahmoudali Naseri, Akbar Mousavi, Amanollah Barahouyi and Salahedin Amoudi were executed for drug-related and security-related charges in Ghezel Hesar Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, five men were hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison in Alborz province on 23 April 2025. Four of the men who were on death row for drug-related offences have been identified as Kurdish minorities Mahmoudali Naseri and Akbar Mousavi from Harsin, Amanollah Barahouyi, a Baluch minority and Sallahodin Amoudi.

Amanollah was on death row for eight years, and Mahmoudali and Akbar were arrested in the same case nine years ago.

The fourth man has been identified as Abdollah Pashtouyi, an Afghan national sentenced to death on the charge of moharebeh (enmity against god) through armed robbery. He was on death row for five years.

At the time of writing, none of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, April 23-25, 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

Tibetan protesters executed for Lhasa riot killings

Tibetan exiles have reported the first executions of those convicted for rioting last year in Lhasa, with at least two people put to death in a rare implementation of capital punishment in the restive region. Two Tibetans convicted of arson and sentenced to death in April were executed on Tuesday morning in Lhasa, reported The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, which is based in the Indian town of Dharamsala—the home in exile of the Dalai Lama. It said that Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak had been sentenced to death for their part in setting fire to five shops in the Tibetan capital, killing seven people, in the riot that rocked Lhasa in March last year. Officials say that 21 people — including three Tibetan protesters — died in the violence, which embarrassed Beijing just as it was preparing to stage the Olympic Games and prompted a security crackdown across the Himalayan region. The body of Mr. Gyaltsen had been returned to his family and then submitted to a river burial—an un...

Iran: Delara Darabi has now been scheduled for execution

Delara Darabi has now been scheduled for execution, according to the Iranian newspaper Etemad on 18 April, according to another source on 20 April. She was convicted of murdering a relative when she was 17. Unless the Judiciary intervenes, she can now escape execution only if the woman’s entire family accept payment of diyeh, or blood money. One of the familly is said to be undecided. Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibit the use of the death penalty against people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible: - expressing concern that Delara Darabi is in imminent danger of execution for a crime committed when she was under 18; - calling on the authorities to halt the execution of Delara Darabi immediately, and commute her death sentence; - reminding the authorities that Iran is a state part...

Iran: Prisoner of conscience Mohsen Amir Aslani hanged for ‘different interpretation of Quran’

Mohsen Amir Aslani NCRI - The Iranian Resistance calls on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, as well as all international human rights organizations to strongly condemn the execution of prisoner of conscience Mr Mohsen Amir Aslani on charges of “corruption on earth; changing Islam’s principles and secondary laws; and new interpretation of Quran”. It further calls for adoption of binding decisions against the growing number of arbitrary executions by the religious fascism ruling Iran. Mr. Amir Aslani, 37, who had been in prison since eight years ago, was once sentenced to four years in prison which was later commuted to twenty-eight months. However, as more fabricated charges were brought against him, the head henchman Judge Salavati condemned him to death. The Iranian regime has refraining from handing over the body of this prisoner to his family through stonewalling and offering contradictory answers to them. The execution...

Florida | Former prison warden who oversaw executions urges corrections workers to not participate in them

Recently Florida carried out the execution of Dusty Spencer , a 74-year-old Marine veteran, for the murder of his wife, Karen, in 1992. It was the ninth Florida execution this year. For their own sake, I urge Florida’s corrections workers to refuse to carry out another one. Before you dismiss me as some soft lefty, you should know that I am an Air Force veteran. I voted for Ron DeSantis for governor twice—and for Donald Trump for president three times.

Iraq: Saddam Hussein Execution was Moved Forward Because of Gaddafi Rescue Plans, Judge Says

Saddam Hussein's execution on December 30, 2006 The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was accelerated due to the belief that the then Libyan leader, Muammar El-Gaddafi, had a plan to rescue him from prison, Judge Mounir Haddad revealed today. Hadad, who presided over the trial of Hussein, revealed to the Al-Arabiya Satellite Channel Point of Order program new details of the trial against the former president and his last moments before being hanged, including the 'health and welfare' votes for the magistrate himself . According to his testimony, the application of the death penalty to Saddam Hussein was precipitated because authorities knew that El-Gaddafi - later murdered in 2011 - was allegedly trying to bribe US guards who guarded him to rescue him from prison. He added that, contrary to previous reports from the local and US press, former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani gave his 'implicit approval' for Hussein's execution, an...

U.S. | Lethal injections are more likely to be botched, experts say

Tony Carruthers, a Memphis man on death row, is one of hundreds of people in the U.S. whose executions did not go as planned When the Tennessee Department of Corrections botched Tony Carruthers’ execution, it wasn’t surprising to Austin Sarat. He’s been researching and writing about “state killings” for decades. “Of all of the methods of execution used in the United States over the last 140 years, lethal injection has the highest rate of being botched,” said Sarat, a professor of law and politics at Amherst College. He said an execution is botched when it deviates from standard operating procedure or official legal protocol.

As Idaho Reinstates Firing Squad, Volunteers Sought for Executions

The state becomes the first in the U.S. to make the firing squad the standard method of capital punishment Idaho is opening a new phase in the administration of capital punishment in the United States, returning to the firing squad as the default method of execution. The decision reintroduces a system that has been abolished or abandoned in most of the country and is now being reorganized through a formal and highly structured framework. The new death penalty protocol State authorities have begun recruiting volunteer law enforcement officers to take part in executions. The operational model includes three primary shooters assigned to carry out the execution, two alternates, and one operations coordinator. All participants will remain anonymous, known only to the prison warden and deputy warden.

Halfway through the year, Saudi Arabia has already executed nearly 100 people

Almost 100 people executed so far this year as dozens more remain on death row for drug-related offences Saudi Arabian authorities have executed nearly 100 people so far this year, including at least 61 for drug-related offences, the latest of which was on 18 June. In response, Dana Ahmed, Middle East Researcher at Amnesty International, said today: “It is halfway through the year and Saudi Arabia has executed nearly 100 people, a grim milestone exposing the authorities’ unconscionable and unlawful use of the death penalty. Of the 96 people put to death already in 2026, an astounding 61 were executed for drug-related offences; 39 of them were foreign nationals and 22 Saudi nationals.

Florida executes Dusty Ray Spencer

74-year-old man becomes oldest inmate executed in modern Florida history A 74-year-old man convicted of fatally stabbing his wife became the oldest person executed in Florida’s modern history on Thursday, and the state is scheduled to execute another 74-year-old inmate next month. Dusty Ray Spencer was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Spencer was convicted of the 1992 stabbing death of his wife Karen.

Indiana | ‘Dignity’ is a poor excuse for blocking press access to state executions

Indiana law says that the press has no right to be present when the state carries out executions. It limits those who can attend to the warden of the prison where the execution is carried out, immediate family members of the crime victim, no more than five friends or relatives of the convicted person, the prison physician, and the prison chaplain. Only if an inmate selects a member of the press as one of the five friends may they attend.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog