Valiollah Bakhtavar 8th Afghan National Executed in 2024

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, an Afghan man was executed in Tabriz Central Prison on 17 April. His identity has been established Valiollah Bakhtavar, a 33-year-old man from Bagram in Afghanistan. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Valiollah Bakhtavar was arrested for murder three years ago and sentenced to qisas. He worked at a fruit stall and had got into an altercation with his boss because they didn’t pay him, leading to the murder.”

At the time of writing, 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 circumstances 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.

In 2023, at least 282 people including two juvenile offenders and 15 women, were executed for murder charges, the second highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 20% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2023, Iran Human Rights also recorded 857 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.

It is important to note that Afghan nationals constitute the largest group of non-Iranian executions and death row cases in Iranian prisons. The number of their executions have been steadily rising since the Taliban takeover in 2021. At least five Afghan nationals were executed in 2021 which more than tripled in 2022, with 16 Afghan nationals including a juvenile offender and a woman executed. In 2023, at least 25 Afghans were executed, a 56% rise compared to the previous year. Valiollah Bakhtavar is the eighth Afghan national executed in 2024.