Iran | Executions in Karaj, Maku

Three prisoners, including a Kurdish man and a woman, have been executed at Karaj Central Prison in separate cases.

Two of the prisoners, Sajjad Shirzadi and Farshad Safari, had been sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary on charges of “premeditated murder.”

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a woman was executed at Karaj Central Prison on Sunday morning, August 23, 2026. Her identity remains under investigation by Hengaw.

Rokna reported that the woman had been arrested in 2023 on charges of abducting and killing a seven-year-old girl named Fatemeh Zahra and was subsequently sentenced to death and 10 years in prison by the Iranian judiciary. She had previously lived in a unit in the same building as the victim’s family.

Farshad Safari, a resident of Hashtgerd in Alborz Province, was executed at the same prison on Wednesday morning, August 19, 2026. He was married and the father of a seven-year-old daughter.

Safari had been arrested five years earlier on a charge of “premeditated murder” and subsequently sentenced to death.

Sajjad Shirzadi, a 30-year-old Kurdish man from Kermanshah (Kermashan) and father of two young children, was executed at Karaj Central Prison on April 23, 2026.

He had been arrested four years earlier on a charge of killing an officer with a handgun and subsequently sentenced to death. Due to the internet shutdown in Iran, Hengaw is reporting his execution now, approximately four months after it was carried out.

The executions of Sajjad Shirzadi and Farshad Safari have not been announced by state media, particularly outlets affiliated with the Iranian judiciary.

Execution in Maku

Ardalan Sabzi, a Kurdish prisoner from Maku, has been executed in Maku Central Prison. He had previously been arrested on a charge of “premeditated murder” and sentenced to death under qisas.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Sabzi was executed at dawn on Sunday, August 23, 2026, in Maku Central Prison.

Hengaw sources said Sabzi was arrested approximately four years ago on a charge of “premeditated murder” and subsequently sentenced to qisas (death) by the Iranian judiciary.

His execution has not been announced by Iran’s state media or judiciary-affiliated outlets.

Source: Hengaw, Staff, August 23, 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

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