Iran | 10 Men Hanged in 2 Group Hangings in Ghezel Hesar Prison

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 29, 2025: Ten men including an Afghan national and four Kurdish minorities were hanged in two group hangings in Ghezel Hesar Prison on Monday and Wednesday.

Farman Koushaki, Yashar Jafari, Akbar Ebrahimi, Hojat Havasizadeh, Abbas Laki, Majid Bahrami, Afshin Ezati, Amirhossein Mohammadi and two unidentified men were hanged for drug-related, murder and rape charges in separate cases. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, five men including an Afghan national and two Kurdish minorities were hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison on 26 May 2025.

Two of the men who were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder have been established as Farman Koushaki, a Kurdish man from Kouhdasht, and Yashar Jafari. The third man has been identified as Akbar Ebrahimi, a Kurdish man on death row for drug-related offences. Farman and Akbar were both on death row for six years.

Hamshahri newspaper also reported the execution of an unnamed Afghan national for murder during a group fight, and another unnamed man for rape charges at the prison that day. The report also mentions another man hanged for murder who is probably Farman Koushaki.

IHRNGO previously reported the execution of Pedram Madani, bringing the total number of executions to six at the prison that day.

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On 28 May, five other men including two Kurdish minorities were hanged in Ghezel Hesar Prison.

The identities of four of the men who were on death row for drug-related offences have been established as Hojat Havasizadeh (Geravand), Abbas Laki (right photo), both Kurdish minorities, Majid Bahrami (Khalifeh) andAfshin Ezati. The fifth man has been identified as Amirhossein Mohammadi who was arrested five years ago and sentenced to qisas for murder.

Of the ten executions, only three were 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. In the first four months of 2025, at least 169 people were hanged for drug-related offences.

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. Should the victim’s family choose execution, they are not only encouraged to attend, but also to physically carry out the execution themselves.

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.

In the first four months of 2025, at least 153 people were executed for murder charges in Iran, per IHRNGO data.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, May 29, 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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