Iran | Executions in Gorgan, Doroud, Khorramabad, Qom, Semnan

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 15, 2025: Mohammad Rahimi, a man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Gorgan Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Gorgan Central Prison on 14 December 2025. His identity has been established as 50-year-old Mohammad Rahimi. He was arrested two years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges in separate cases by the Revolutionary Court.

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 697 people were executed for drug-related offences in the first eleven months of 2025.

Execution in Doroud

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 14, 2025: Salim Afrashteh, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Doroud Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Doroud Prison on 9 December 2025. His identity has been established as 33-year-old Salim Afrashteh. He was arrested around four years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder 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. At least 641 people were executed for murder charges in the first eleven months of 2025.

Executions in Khorramabad

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 14, 2025: Hossein Ali Koulivand and Morad Jafari, two men on death row for separate murders, were executed in Khorramabad Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Khorramabad Central Prison on 13 December 2025. Their identities have been established as Hossein Ali Koulivand, a 51-year-old father of three, and Morad Jafari from Aligudarz. They were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Hossein Ali was arrested around seven years ago. He had borrowed money in exchange for a promissory note. When he was unable to repay the loan, an argument and altercation ensued which ended with the other person being killed.”

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

Executions in Karaj

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 14, 2025: Ali Itivand and Kiumars Bahrami, two Kurdish relatives on death row for drug-related offences, were executed in Karaj Penitentiary.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Karaj Central Prison (Penitentiary) at 10 pm on 13 December 2025. Their identities have been established as 35-year-old Ali Itivand, a Kurdish minority from the village of Sorkheh Mehr in Kouhdasht, and his relative, Kiumars Bahrami, a 29-year-old Kurdish minority from Kouhdasht.

Ali was arrested three years ago and Kiumars, two years ago. They were sentenced to death on drug-related charges in separate cases by the Revolutionary Court.

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

Executions in Qom

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 14, 2025: Hamideh Jabari and Manouchehr Rezayi, a woman and man on death row for separate murders, were executed in Qom Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a woman and man were hanged in Qom Central Prison on 13 December 2025. Their identities have been established as 41-year-old Hamideh Jabari from Saveh and 26-year-old Manouchehr Rezayi from Shahriar, Tehran.

Hamideh was arrested for the murder of her husband four years ago and Manouchehr Rezayi who was arrested for murder during a street fight four years ago. They were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

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

Executions in Semnan

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 14, 2025: Reza Abbasian and Khalil Fadayi, two men on death row for separate murders, were executed in Semnan Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Semnan Central Prison on 10 December 2025. Their identities have been established as 46-year-old Reza Abbasian from Semnan and 28-year-old Khalil Fadayi from Shahroud.

Reza was arrested three years ago and Khalil, five years ago. They were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. Per informed IHRNGO sources, Khalil had attempted to commit suicide twice in prison.

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

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, December 14-15, 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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What Tennessee wants to do next to Christa Pike is beyond grim

Christa Pike, the woman who survived two execution attempts in Tennessee earlier this week, remains hospitalized in critical condition, where presumably medical staff is at work trying to keep her alive. If she wakes from the coma she had entered, Tennessee officials want to start anew to inject lethal drugs into her seemingly too-small veins to kill her and carry out the state death warrant. Pike also is being treated for “significant injuries to both arms” sustained when two lethal injections of pentobarbital failed to kill her. If she dies, there will be no need to try again. As we know by now, Tennessee tried to put Pike to death Wednesday night by lethal injection for a murder she committed when she was 18. She would have been the first woman executed in the state in 200 years.

Tennessee | Republicans legislature to investigate other execution methods after failed lethal injections

Republican leaders in Tennessee’s legislature say they will investigate the reliability of lethal injection as an execution method after the state failed to execute two death row inmates in the span of five months. Gov. Bill Lee stopped the May execution of Tony Carruthers after a physician unsuccessfully attempted to insert intravenous lines to begin the lethal injection process for over an hour. Death row inmate Christa Pike survived two failed rounds of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol on Sept. 30 before the execution was halted. Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, is receiving medical care in a Nashville hospital.

Tennessee | Christa Pike’s lawyer says she has not regained consciousness since her failed execution

Christa Pike has remained unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital in the four days since her failed execution in Tennessee, and her prognosis might not be known for days more, one of her lawyers said Sunday. Little has been released about Pike’s condition since Wednesday night’s execution attempt. She has since remained hospitalized under guard as doctors try to get the massive dose of the barbiturate pentobarbital out of her system. When asked whether she ever regained consciousness after the execution attempt, Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell, Pike’s lawyer, said on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “Not that I am aware of.”

Opinion | I Know Christa Pike’s Medical History. What Tennessee Did Is Unforgivable.

Dr. Zivot is an anesthesiologist and intensive care physician. He consulted on Christa Pike’s case before her attempted execution. On Wednesday night, Christa Pike lay strapped to a gurney at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville while the State of Tennessee injected pentobarbital, a sedative that is lethal in high doses, into her veins. When the 1st dose did not kill her, the execution team gave her a 2nd. At one point, she told the room her arm felt as if it were about to burst. She was nearly correct. More than an hour after the procedure began, an ambulance was called. She was severely injured but still alive.

Christa Pike's Survival Wasn't a Miracle. That's What Should Scare Us.

What happened in Tennessee's execution chamber is one of the most common failures in medicine Christa Pike is awake. A week after Tennessee strapped her to a gurney and gave her two doses of pentobarbital , she is off the ventilator and speaking from a hospital bed, still shackled to it. Her lawyers call her recovery " medically unprecedented. " Legal scholars say she is the first person in American history to survive a lethal injection after the drug was actually given. I understand the impulse to make such claims. I consulted for Pike's legal team, but I have also spent three decades in operating rooms and intensive care units (ICUs), and I want to resist the word "unprecedented" and the word "miracle" that hovers just behind it.

USA | Firing squad execution to be livestreamed, Pentagon says

The public will be able to watch the execution of a former US Army major by firing squad, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said. A Defense Department official told the BBC the execution of Nidal Hasan, who shot dead 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, would be livestreamed. It is believed it would be the first public execution in the US in almost a century. The decision to livestream it is "unprecedented in the modern era" and "on uncertain legal terrain", said John Mills, a lawyer who works with inmates sentenced to death.

Florida Set to Execute Man Who Said He Killed to Reach Death Row, Challenging Misconception that Death Penalty Deters Crime

Florida is scheduled to execute James Robertson at noon on Tuesday, October 13, at Florida State Prison. His execution remains scheduled despite the withdrawal of William Lee Thompson’s death warrant, which had called for a 2nd execution that evening. If completed, this will be Florida’s 17th execution of 2026. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) and partners will be holding a series of vigils and demonstrations across the state.

I’ve Covered Death Row Cases for Nearly a Decade. What Happened to Christa Pike Wasn’t an Anomaly.

Over the course of two hours, witnesses watched and listened as Christa Pike cried, whimpered and snored through Tennessee’s attempt to execute her. By the end of it, executioners had given her two doses of the state’s lethal injection drugs. Her arms were swollen and blistered, and one had turned purple, her attorneys said. And she was still alive, marking what legal experts say is the first time a prisoner in the U.S. has survived one dose—let alone two—of lethal injection drugs.

Singapore | Ministry of Home Affairs refutes claims that death penalty was discussed during visit by Israel's security ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs says discussions with the Israeli government involved the sharing of best practices in emergency response, crime prevention, and forensics. Issues relating to the death penalty “were never part of the meeting and were not discussed." SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sep 11) refuted claims by an Israeli media outlet that the death penalty was discussed during a visit by an Israeli delegation in May. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sep 7 that a delegation comprising representatives from the Israel Prison Service and National Security Ministry made a “secret visit” to Singapore that month.

Indiana plans to proceed with execution after botched Tennessee attempt

Indiana prison officials plan to proceed with Jeffrey Weisheit’s Nov. 5 execution after a botched lethal injection in Tennessee prompted that state’s governor to halt executions and order an independent review. The Indiana Department of Correction said Thursday that it remains confident in its procedures despite using the same protocol as Tennessee. Agency officials offered no additional details about the training of those administering lethal injections, the role of medical personnel, or safeguards for execution drugs.

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