Iran Executions: Man Hanged in Sari City

According to HRANA, on the morning of Wednesday, August 21, a man was hanged at a prison in the Iranian northern city of Sari, Mazandaran province. The man is identified as Abolhassan Ghorbani, 38. Abolhassan killed a man during a fight four years ago.

“Plaintiffs asked for money to forgive but the prisoner’s family were not rich enough to pay the blood money,” 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 qisas cases, the plaintiff has the possibility to forgive or demand diya (blood money). 

In this way, the State effectively puts the responsibility of the death sentence for murder on the shoulders of the victim’s family. In many cases, the victim's family are encouraged to put the rope is around the prisoner's neck and even carry out the actual execution by pulling off the chair the prisoner is standing on.