Iran | Executions in Kermanshah, Ardabil, Qazvin, Isfahan, Rasht

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 8 May 2026: Mohammad Taghi Shahveisi, a 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 6 May 2026. His identity has been established as Mohammad Taghi Shahveisi, a 42-year-old Kurdish father of four from the village of Gazaneh (Salas Babakhani) who resided in Javanroud.

He was arrested after a street fight 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 diya 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 2025 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 747 people including 48 women, were executed for murder charges, the highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Under 7% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2025, IHRNGO also recorded 566 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.

Execution in Ardabil

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 8 May 2026: Shahab Azimi, 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 6 May 2026. His identity has been established as 31-year-old Shahab Azimi from Ardabil. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Shahab was transferred to the gallows from Ward 1 of the prison. He had been arrested for an honour killing around four years ago.”

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

Executions in Qazvin

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 7 May 2026: Behnam Abdi, a man on death row for drug-related offences, and Sajad Hosseini, a man on death row for murder, were executed in Qazvin Central Prison. Sajad was executed due to his inability to pay the blood money sum demanded by the plaintiffs in the case.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Qazvin (Choobindar) Central Prison on 6 May 2026. His identity has been established as Behnam Abdi, a 49-year-old father of two from Qazvin. He was arrested around three years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

Another man was hanged at the prison on 27 April. He has been identified as Sajad Hosseini, a 27-year-old man from Tehran. He was arrested around six years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Sajad was arrested for the murder after a street fight. He was previously transferred to the gallows twice, once three years ago and again last June. On both occasions, he was returned to his ward after the victim's family granted extensions. They had demanded 9 billion tomans as diya (blood money). Through immense effort, Sajad's family managed to raise 5.4 billion tomans, but the plaintiffs refused to accept this amount."

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

Executions in Isfahan

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 6 May 2026: Massoud Shirzad and Ghasem Nouri Roudini, a Baluch minority, were executed for drug-related offences in Isfahan Central Prison. Mehrdad Goudarzi was spared from death at the last minute after obtaining a one-month extension in his murder case.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison on 4 May 2026. Their identities have been established as 30-year-old Massoud Shirzad from Kashan and Ghasem Nouri Roudini, a 32-year-old Baluch man from the village of Roudini in Zahedan. Massoud was arrested around three years ago and Ghasem was arrested seven years ago. They were sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: "Ghasem successfully memorised the entire Quran during his imprisonment. Given standard judicial procedures and prior interventions, his death sentence was expected to be overturned. Although his sentence had previously been quashed by the Supreme Court, his execution was still carried out at dawn on Monday."

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

Another death row prisoner named Mehrdad Goudarzi was also transferred to the pre-execution solitary confinement cells along with Massoud and Ghasem. He was returned to the general ward after obtaining a last minute one-month extension from the plaintiffs in his murder case.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2025 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 795 people were executed for drug-related charges, of which only 0.18% were announced by official sources. 13% of all drug-related executions in 2025 were Baluch minorities while they represent 2-6% of Iran’s population.

Execution in Rasht

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 4 May 2026: Jamal Hassanzadeh, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Rasht Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Rasht (Lakan) Central Prison on 29 April 2026. His identity has been established as Jamal Hassanzadeh, a 37-year-old father of one.

Informed sources told IHRNGO that he been arrested four years ago on murder charges following an unintentional altercation 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.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, May 4-8, 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

Death Penalty News For a World without the Death Penalty

Comments

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...

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.

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.

American Fugitive Flees to Italy hoping to Escape the Death Penalty

American Murder Suspect Cut Off His Ankle Bracelet and Fled to Italy to Escape the Death Penalty Lee Mongerson Gilley Flew From Houston to Milan on Two False Identities. He Was Caught the Moment He Landed. It reads like the opening of a thriller. A man under electronic surveillance in Houston, suspected of killing his pregnant wife, cuts off his ankle bracelet, boards a flight to Canada under a false identity, transfers to a second flight to Italy under a second false identity, and lands at Milan Malpensa with a single objective: to place himself beyond the reach of Texas justice and its death penalty. The plan failed at the first step on Italian soil. Lee Mongerson Gilley, 39, an American software engineer wanted in the United States on suspicion of murdering his ex-wife in October 2024, was identified and detained the moment he arrived at Malpensa. He had cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet in Houston, flown first to Canada using one set of false documents, and then to Italy u...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog