Iran | Executions in Isfahan, Qorveh, Tabriz, Rasht, Ardabil, Ahvaz, Iranshahr, Kerman, Khorramabad

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 21, 2025: Hossein Karimi, Reza Abbasi, Taleb Reikani and Morteza Sayvand were executed in a group hanging in Isfahan Central Prison. There is no news about the fate of four other prisoners transferred to the pre-execution solitary confinement cells with the executed group.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least four men were hanged in Isfahan Central Prison on 20 August 2025. Two of the men who were on death row for drug-related offences have been identified as 38-year-old Hossein Karimi from Khomeini city, and 40-year-old Reza Abbasi from Najaf Abad. They were arrested four and three years respectively, and sentenced to death on drug-related charges.

The other two men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. Their identities have been established as Taleb Reikani and Morteza Sayvand, both aged around 35 and arrested for separate murders five years ago. Taleb was from Ahvaz and Morteza, from Khorramabad.

There is no news about the fate of four other prisoners transferred to the pre-execution solitary confinement cells with the executed group.

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. At least 347 people were executed for drug-related offences in the first seven months of 2025.

Execution in Qorveh

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 21, 2025: Amir Mohammad Faroughi, a Kurdish man on death row for murder, was executed in Qorveh Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Qorveh Prison on 20 August 2025. His identity has been established as 26-year-old Amir Mohammad Faroughi, a Kurdish man from Qorveh. from Qorveh.

He was arrested six 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. 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 seven months of 2025, at least 310 people were executed for murder charges in Iran.

Execution in Tabriz

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 21, 2025: Naghi Shahi, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison on 20 August 2025. His identity has been established as 37-year-old Naghi Shahi, a farmer from a village in Tabriz. He was arrested for a murder that took place during a disagreement over farmland three 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.

Executions in Rasht

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 21, 2025: Farshad Hamegan and Hossein Mokhtari, two men on death row for murder and drug-related offences respectively, were executed in Rasht Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Rasht (Lakan) Central Prison on 20 August 2025. One of the men who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, has been identified as 55-year-old Farshad Hamegan from Astarawho was on death row for six years.

The second man has been identified as 40-year-old Hossein Mokhtari from Lahijan. He was arrested three years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

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

Execution in Ardabil

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 21, 2025: Mostafa Arjangi, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Ardabil Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Ardabil Central Prison on 19 August 2025. His identity has been established as 28-year-old Mostafa Arjangi from Ardabil. He was arrested for a murder that took place during a street fight 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.

Executions in Ahvaz

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 20, 2025: Mohamamd Boghlani and Mokhtar Fazeli, two Arab men on death row for separate murders, were executed in Ahvaz Sepidar Prison. The number of executions recorded by IHRNGO in 2025 has surpassed 800.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Ahvaz Sepidar Prison on 17 August 2025. His identity has been established as 38-year-old Mohammad Boghlani, an Arab man from Dezful. He was arrested around eleven years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

Furthermore, another man was hanged at the prison on 20 August. His identity has been established as Mokhtar Fazeli a 32-year-old Arab cattle farmer from Ahvaz. He was arrested around six years ago and also sentenced to qisas for murder by the Criminal Court.

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

Execution in Iranshahr

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 20, 2025: Hafez Siahkhani, a Baluch man on death row for murder, was executed in Iranshahr Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Iranshahr Prison on 19 August 2025. His identity has been established as Hafez Siahkhani, a 38-year-old Baluch man from the village of Shahrderaz in Sistan and Baluchistan province.

He was arrested 14 years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. Hafez was executed without his family being notified or a last family visit.

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

Execution in Kerman

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 20, 2025: Milad Narouyi (Davoudi), a Baluch man death row for drug-related offences, was secretly executed in Kerman Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Kerman Central Prison on 19 August 2025. His identity has been established as Milad Narouyi (Davoudi), a 30-year-old Baluch man from Zahedan.

He was arrested around three years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court. His execution was carried out without prior notice or a last family visit.

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

Executions in Khorramabad

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 19, 2025: Ali Omidi Moghaddam and Iman Jozi, two men on death row for separate murder, were executed in Khorramabad Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Khorramabad Central Prison on 17 August 2025. Their identities have been established as 36-year-old Ali Omidi Moghaddam and 32-year-old Iman Jozi. They were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder in separate cases by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Ali was from the village of Doab in Visian and was arrested for a murder during a street fight around seven years ago. Iman was from Visian and arrested five 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, August 19-21, 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

Alabama executes Jeremy Williams

Tennessee and Oklahoma have put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men in one day. Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985, and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death Thursday evening for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Tennessee executes Darrell Hines

The state has spent millions of dollars over decades to execute a seriously ill man who was already incarcerated. The state of Tennessee executed death row inmate Darrell Hines Thursday morning, according to an advocacy group. No formal announcement of the execution has been issued by state leaders yet. The execution was slated for 10 a.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. [DPN update] Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. His last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and sweet tea.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Tennessee set to execute Anthony Darrell Hines

Barring any last-minute interventions, the Tennessee Department of Correction will execute Anthony Darrell Hines by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Thursday morning. This week, two courts had the opportunity to halt the execution: the federal court in Middle Tennessee and the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday he personally would not prevent the execution. “After deliberate consideration of Anthony Darrell Hines’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene,” he said in a written statement. The U.S. Supreme Court has not granted a stay or reprieve.

Tennessee | The doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Dr. Mark Fowler assisted in the failed execution of a Tennessee prisoner. Physicians are meant to heal patients—why is he working in the death chamber? Mark Fowler, a physician with 25 years’ experience, stepped beneath the bright lights and approached the middle-aged man lying on a gurney. Around him, people in medical gowns prepared needles and sterile tubing. It had all the appearances of a hospital setting. Fowler had been called in to help establish an IV line through which the 57-year-old man, Tony Carruthers, would be injected with pharmaceutical drugs. The team had struggled to find a vein, so Fowler was summoned to set a central line—an intravenous catheter inserted into the major vein below the collarbone.

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Alabama Set To Carry Out Execution This Week

Alabama is preparing to execute Jeremy Williams, who pled guilty to the 2021 rape and murder of five-year-old Kamarie Holland. The execution is scheduled for Thursday (August 13) at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. Williams, who is 41, requested the death penalty and waived his right to appeal, making this the first execution in Alabama this year.

The 'Black Widow' shakes Iran: 10 death sentences for a serial killer who killed 12 men

Kolthum Akbari, an Iranian woman widely dubbed the “Black Widow,” was convicted of serial murders of elderly men she married, often temporarily. Official accounts generally center on 11 murders (plus one attempted murder), though Akbari herself gave varying figures and investigations suggested she had many more marriages. The sentencing occurred primarily in September 2025 in Mazandaran Province, with ongoing reporting and updates into 2026. The 56- to 59-year-old killer confessed to killing at least 11 elderly men after temporarily or officially marrying them; Iranian authorities have linked her to additional marriages and possible further victims.

Arizona prosecutors seek death penalty a second time for 2 inmates

County Attorney Brad Miller said Aug. 6 that the nature of the attack and both men's past criminal records meet the strict legal bar required for execution under Arizona law. FLORENCE, Ariz. - Pinal County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against two inmates accused of violently killing a fellow prisoner behind bars, officials announced Thursday. Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller filed a Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty against Pete Van Winkle and Tracy Hampton in connection with the fatal attack on Kenneth Thompson.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issues three death penalty reprieves

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued execution reprieves for three death row inmates on Friday. In a statement, DeWine said he issued reprieves for Keith LaMar, Scott Group, and Davel Chinn, all of whom were set to be executed early next year. LaMar was scheduled to be executed on Jan. 13, 2027. He was convicted of aggravated murder for the deaths of five inmates during a 1993 riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville. He received the death penalty for four of the killings. His new execution date is Jan. 13, 2030. Watch the latest NBC4 headlines in the video player above.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog