Iran Executions: Man Hanged at Maragheh Prison

According to a report of Kurdistan Center for Democracy and Human Rights, confirmed by IHR, a prisoner was hanged at Iranian northwestern city of Maragheh’s prison. The prisoner has been identified as Shahin Samadi, 34, from the city of Naghadeh.

Shahin “had been held in prison for four years. He could not win the consent of the plaintiffs and thus, his execution verdict was carried out,” a well-informed source said.

According to the Iranian Islamic Penal Code (IPC) murder is punishable by qisas which means “retribution in kind” or retaliation. In this way, the State effectively puts the responsibility of the death sentence for murder on the shoulders of the victim’s family. In qisas cases, the plaintiff has the possibility to forgive or demand diya (blood money).

Of note, Shahin emphasises in the court that he only pushed the victim and had no intention to kill him. There is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and intent.

According to the Iran Human Rights statistic department, at least 273 people were executed in Iran in 2018. At least 188 of them executed for murder charges.