Mohammad Salehzadeh and Habib Rakhshmah Hanged in Gorgan

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Gorgan (Amir Abad) Central Prison on 6 October 2026. He has been identified as 24-year-old Mohammadreza Salehzadeh (known as Shahin) from Gorgan. He was arrested over six years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Mohammadreza lost his father, a war veteran, when he was seven years old. Following his mother's remarriage, he chose to live with his grandmother. On the night of 7 January 2022, when Mohammadreza was 18 years and four months old, he left home at around 11:00 pm to buy cigarettes for his grandmother. Along the way, two men on a motorbike who Mohammadreza said were both intoxicated forced him onto the vehicle at knifepoint and took him to a secluded location to rape him. Mohammadreza, who was carrying a knife for his own safety, struck one of the assailants in the heart in self-defence and fled. Mohammadreza was arrested 17 days later. From the outset in court, while taking responsibility, he testified that he had acted in self-defence against rape which the court ignored."

Another man was hanged at the prison on 14 October 2026. His identity has been established as Habib Rakhsmah Notizehi (left photo), 52-year-old Baluch father of five from a Gorgan village. He was arrested around six years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

At the time of writing, their executions have 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. In the first nine months of 2026, at least 306 people were executed for murder charges.