Iran: Man Executed at Bandar Abbas Prison

According to IHR sources, on the early morning of Thursday, November 14, a man was hanged at the central prison of the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas. His identity was revealed by IHR sources as Salman Babanzadeh, 33, from the Iranian city of Ghorveh.

“He was sentenced to death for murdering his cousin four years ago. Salman’s family were trying to win the plaintiff’s consent but they failed,” a well-informed source told IHR. 

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). 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.

Out of the 110 people who were executed in the first half of 2019, 83 were sentenced to qisas (retribution in-kind) for murder.