Farzad Khademi at Risk of Execution in Saqqez

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a death row prisoner was transferred to solitary confinement in Saqqez Central Prison on 23 April. His identity has been established as Farzad Khademi from Saqqez who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Farzad Khademi was arrested for the murder of a man named Tirdad Atashafrouz on 2 July 2020 and sentenced to qisas. The murdered man was a member of the Kurdistan Freedom Party who’d surrendered but was shot dead by Farzad Khademi over a personal dispute.”

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.

In 2023, at least 282 people including two juvenile offenders and 15 women, were executed for murder charges, the second highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 20% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2023, Iran Human Rights also recorded 857 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.