Abbas Abdolmaleki Hanged for Murder in Ghezelhesar Prison

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison on 3 September 2026. His identity has been established as 35-year-old Abbas Abdolmaleki. 

He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Abbas Abdolmaleki was a married resident of Varamin, originally from the village of Gera in Hamadan province's Tuyserkan county. Roughly three years prior to his execution, he was arrested following a group fight and convicted of murder despite glaring ambiguities in the case. Throughout his detention and court proceedings, he never admitted to the murder charge. Right up to his final moments at the gallows, Abbas repeatedly maintained his innocence.”

Despite more than eleven months passing, 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 mitigating factors 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.