Iran | Rezvan Asgharzadeh, mother of six, executed in Isfahan

Hengaw – Friday, September 18, 2026

Rezvan Asgharzadeh, a 45-year-old woman and mother of six who had been sentenced to death on drug-related charges, has been executed in Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan.

Her husband, who was sentenced to death on similar charges, remains imprisoned at the same facility and is at risk of execution.

Based on information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Asgharzadeh was executed at dawn on Monday, September 14, 2026, in Dastgerd Prison.

She was arrested approximately six and a half to seven years ago on drug-related charges. Around two years ago, Branch 5 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Hemmat-Nejad, sentenced her to death. The sentence was subsequently upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court.

Prior to the execution, Asgharzadeh was transferred from Dowlatabad Prison in Isfahan to Dastgerd Prison on the evening of Sunday, September 13. Her husband has also been sentenced to death on similar charges and is currently held in Dastgerd Prison, where he remains at risk of execution.

According to a source close to her family cited by HRANA, during her imprisonment Asgharzadeh memorized several sections of the Quran in the hope of qualifying for clemency and remained hopeful that her sentence would be commuted until her final days. Her name was initially included on a list of prisoners eligible for clemency, but it was removed after a negative report submitted by Fatemeh Asgarian, the head of Dowlatabad Prison.

Prison authorities’ behavioral reports play a decisive role in the clemency process: a negative assessment can remove a prisoner from consideration even if they have participated in religious programs such as Quran memorization, a practice that has at times been treated as a factor favoring sentence reduction but is not a legal guarantee. A June 2026 commutation of 139 death sentences similarly excluded those convicted of armed or organized drug trafficking.

Iranian state media and judiciary-affiliated outlets have not announced her execution. Human rights groups report that her execution brings the number of women executed in Iranian prisons since the beginning of 2026 to at least 26.

Source: Hengaw, Staff, September 18, 2026. Additional details from HRANA and WNCRI

"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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