Iran | Executions in Isfahan, Kerman, Mashhad, Kermanshah

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 22, 2025: Karvan Abdolaziz, an Iraqi national, Yahya Karami, Saman Abbasi, Akbar Faraji and Moslem Naderi were executed for drug-related offences in a group hanging in Isfahan Central Prison. At least 11 Iraqi nationals are currently on death row for drug-related offences at the prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, five men were hanged in Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison on 18 November 2025. Their identities have been established as Karvan Abdolaziz, an Iraqi national, Yahya Karami, a 47-year-old father of two from Aligudarz, 31-year-old Saman Abbasi from Khorramabad, Akbar Faraji and 36-year-old Moslem Naderi.

Yahya and Saman were arrested for “carrying 8.700 kilograms of cannabis and heroin in a joint case two years ago. Karvan was arrested around four years ago. They were all sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

At least 11 Iraqi nationals including Kurdish minorities, are currently on death row for drug-related offences in Isfahan Central Prison.

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 612 people were executed for drug-related offences in the first ten months of 2025.

Executions in Kerman

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 21, 2025: Ali Asghar Izadkhah (Damani), a Baluch man on death row for murder, was executed in Kerman Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Kerman Central Prison on 19 November 2025. His identity has been established as Ali Asghar Izadkhah (Damani), a 27-year-old Baluch man from the village of Ziarat in Mehrestan. He was arrested five years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Ali Asghar had gone to Shiraz to work on a poultry farm with his brother, Mohammad Taher, in 2020. On the way back, a fight broke out between them and several others, which led to another individual being killed. He was sentenced to qisas and Mohammad Taher to 25 years in prison."

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 ten months of 2025, at least 568 people were executed for murder charges in Iran.

Execution in Isfahan

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 21, 2025: Mahmoud Ghadimi, a man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Isfahan Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison on 4 October 2025. His identity has been established as Mahmoud Ghadimi, a 33-year-old man from Karaj. He was arrested around four years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “The Supreme Court had granted a one-degree reduction in his sentence, but the Isfahan prosecutor, Asadollah Jafari, did not accept this reduction and sent the case back for the implementation of the verdict.”

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. At least 612 people were executed for drug-related offences in the first ten months of 2025.

Execution in Mashhad

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 20, 2025: Mohsen Fakhrayi, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Mashhad Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Mashhad (Vakil Abad) Central Prison on 19 November 2025. His identity has been established as Mohsen Fakhrayi, a 31-year-old father of three from Mashhad.

He was arrested eleven years ago and 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.

Execution in Kermanshah

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 20, 2025: Peyman Azizi, a Kurdish man on death row for murder, was executed in Kermanshah Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Kermanshah (Dizel Abad) Central Prison on 19 November 2025. His identity has been established as Peyman Azizi, a 21-year-old Kurdish man from Salase Babajani. He was arrested two years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Peyman was accused of killing another conscript soldier with a weapon following an argument while he was serving his own conscription.”

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

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, November 20-22, 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

Will the US Supreme Court end nitrogen gas executions?

When President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, he directed his administration to “ restor[e] the death penalty .” His embrace of capital punishment helped fuel a surge in executions at the state level last year, as I previously reported , and led the Justice Department to produce a report on “strengthening” the federal death penalty, which was released late last month. In the report, the Justice Department defended the use of pentobarbital – a powerful sedative – for lethal injections, criticizing the Biden administration’s determination that it may cause “unnecessary pain and suffering.” Nevertheless, citing ongoing legal challenges to pentobarbital use and related problems obtaining the drugs used in lethal injections, the DOJ recommended expanding the list of federal execution methods by adding firing squads, electrocution, and lethal gas.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

New Mississippi billboard warns criminals: ‘Firing squad is legal’

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — A billboard standing on Interstate 55 southbound as you cross the Tennessee state line and enter Mississippi from Memphis is sending a grim message to those coming into the state. DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton recently announced the new billboard campaign, which features the sign reading, “WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI. WHERE THE FIRING SQUAD IS LEGAL. THINK TWICE.” It references Mississippi’s law permitting execution by firing squad under certain circumstances for inmates sentenced to death. Barton says this campaign is aimed at deterring violent crime and sends a direct message to criminals entering Mississippi.

South Dakota | Latest appeal from state's lone death row inmate denied

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has rejected the latest appeal from Briley Piper, the only person on death row in South Dakota. In March 2000, Briley Piper, along with co-defendants Elijah Page and Darrell Hoadley, conspired to burglarize the Lawrence County home of 19-year-old Chester Poage before abducting and murdering him by beating, stabbing, and stoning in a remote area. Piper was subsequently arrested, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death, while his accomplices received either a death sentence—carried out against Page in 2007—or a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

Arizona | Man who murdered pastor crucifixion style requests plea deal after parents killed in plane crash

Adam Sheafe, the California man who admitted to killing a New River, Arizona, pastor in a crucifixion-style attack, has asked prosecutors to offer him a plea deal that would result in a natural life sentence rather than the death penalty he had previously sought. Advisory council attorneys representing Sheafe sent a formal plea offer to prosecutors this week, about two weeks after his father and stepmother died in a plane crash at Marana Airport on April 8, according to 12 News. Sheafe, 51, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of William Schonemann, 76, pastor of New River Bible Church, who was found dead inside his home last April.

Idaho eyes restart of death row executions as firing squad draws near

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s prison system has nearly completed execution chamber upgrades to carry out the death penalty by firing squad as the state’s lead method and will have a team of riflemen ready to go by the time a state law takes effect this summer. As part of the transition, the Idaho Department of Correction hopes to limit participation by its officers as the shooting of condemned people in prison to death is prioritized over lethal injection. Toward that effort, prisoner leadership sought to implement a push-button technology to avoid needing IDOC workers to pull the triggers.

South Carolina | Inmate who believes he’s died repeatedly can’t be executed, judge rules

SPARTANBURG — A 59-year-old man sentenced to death for killing a state trooper in Greenville County in 2000 can’t be executed because of a mental illness that’s left him incoherent and believing he’s immortal, a Circuit Court judge has ruled. John Richard Wood is the first condemned inmate in South Carolina found not competent to be executed since the state restarted capital punishment in September 2024. The seven executions since then include three men who chose to die by firing squad — the latest in November. Wood, convicted 24 years ago, was among death row inmates in line to receive a death warrant after exhausting their regular appeals.

Florida executes James Ernest Hitchcock

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of beating and choking his brother’s 13-year-old stepdaughter to death nearly 50 years ago was executed Thursday evening. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of the July 1976 killing of Cynthia Driggers. The curtain to the death chamber opened promptly at the 6 p.m. execution time. Hitchcock’s entire body was covered in a sheet up to his head. He stared at the ceiling as the team warden made a call, then gave his final statement.

Former FedEx driver sentenced to death for killing 7-year-old girl after delivery at her Texas home

DALLAS (AP) — A former FedEx driver was sentenced to death on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to killing a 7-year-old girl he took from her Texas home while delivering a Christmas gift. Jurors in a Fort Worth courtroom decided on Tanner Horner's punishment after hearing about a month of testimony and evidence that included audio of Athena Strand's last moments from inside his delivery van. Horner, 34, pleaded guilty to capital murder last month in the 2022 killing just as his trial began. Athena's body was found two days after she was reported missing from her home in the rural town of Paradise, near Fort Worth.

China | Man sentenced to death for murder executed in Yunnan

Tian Yongming, who was initially sentenced for a series of violent crimes and then had his sentence changed to death early this year, has been executed in Yunnan province following approval from China's top court. The execution was carried out by the Intermediate People's Court in Yuxi, Yunnan, on Tuesday, with local prosecutors supervising the process. Before the execution, Tian was allowed to meet with his family members. The case dates back to September 1996, when Tian was sentenced to nine years in prison for the rape and attempted murder of his sister-in-law. After his release on July 15, 2002, he plotted revenge against the woman. On the night of Nov 13, 2002, he broke into her home armed with a knife.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog