Skip to main content

Iran | Executions in Karaj, Birjand, Tabriz, Kerman, Gorgan

Iranian authorities have executed a prisoner identified as Eghbal Arghandeh in Karaj Central Prison. He had previously been sentenced to death on charges of “premeditated murder.”

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the execution of 30-year-old Eghbal Arghandeh was carried out at dawn on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in Karaj Central Prison.

Sources told Hengaw that Arghandeh had been arrested approximately six years ago in connection with a fatal street altercation and was later sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary.

Iranian state media, particularly outlets affiliated with the judiciary, have not officially announced the execution.

Executions in Birjand, Tabriz, Kerman and Gorgan


Iranian authorities have executed five prisoners, including three Baloch prisoners identified as Younes Zirakari, Heydar Bamari (Moradkhani), Mehdi Bamari (Moradkhani), as well as Naser Langarani and Omid Sadeghi Souri, in prisons across Birjand, Tabriz, Kerman and Gorgan.

The prisoners had previously been sentenced to death on charges related to drug offenses and premeditated murder.

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the executions of Heydar Bamari (Moradkhani) and Mehdi Bamari (Moradkhani), two 27-year-old Baloch prisoners from Delgan in Sistan and Baluchestan province, were carried out at dawn on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in Kerman Central Prison.

The two men had been arrested three years ago in a joint case in Kahnooj on drug-related charges and were later sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary.

In a separate case, the execution of Younes Brahoui (Zirakari), a 29-year-old married man from Zahedan, was carried out at dawn on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Birjand Prison. He had also been sentenced to death on drug-related charges.

On the same day, the execution of Naser Langarani, a 42-year-old father of one, was carried out in Gorgan Central Prison. He had been arrested around three years ago on charges of premeditated murder and later sentenced to death.

Additionally, Omid Sadeghi Souri, a 26-year-old Turkish prisoner, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison at dawn on Sunday, May 10, 2026.

Sadeghi Souri had been arrested four years earlier on charges of premeditated murder following a street altercation and was later sentenced to death.

Iran executes Mohammad Abbasi amid accelerating wave of wartime executions


Iranian authorities have executed Mohammad Abbasi, a detainee arrested during protests earlier this year, at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj amid a rapidly escalating wave of executions carried out under wartime conditions.

According to information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Abbasi, a resident of Malard in Tehran Province, was secretly executed at dawn on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj. He had been arrested alongside his daughter during protests earlier this year. Mizan News Agency, the official media outlet of Iran’s judiciary, later confirmed the execution.

Abbasi was arrested in connection with the killing of a police officer identified as Shahin Dehghani Kakavandi during protests in Malard. He was subsequently sentenced to death on charges of “waging war against God” (moharebeh) by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolghasem Salavati.

Branch 39 of Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the sentence while preventing independent lawyers, including Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani, from participating in the proceedings under provisions tied to Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The case was reviewed solely in the presence of a court-appointed lawyer lacking the necessary independence.

In the same case, Fatemeh Abbasi, Mohammad Abbasi’s daughter, was sentenced to 25 years of discretionary imprisonment and is currently being held in the women’s ward of Evin Prison, a measure that reflects the systematic retaliation and increased pressure exerted by security institutions against the families of protesters.

Hengaw Organization for Human Rights warns that since the outbreak of military conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States, the Islamic Republic has sharply accelerated its use of executions. With the execution of Mohammad Abbasi, at least 32 prisoners facing political and security-related charges have been executed during this period.

Source: hengaw.net, Staff, May 13-15, 2026




"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
Globe
Death Penalty News For a World without the Death Penalty

Comments

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

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.