At Least 8 Including a Woman and 2 Afghan Executed in Karaj

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least eight people were executed in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj on 2nd October. Of those, four were on death row for murder, two for rape and two for moharebeh (enmity against god) charges.

The three men sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder have been identified as Fazlollah Pournasiri, Saber Haghmoradi and Behnam Dastjerdi. A woman who has not been identified at the time of writing was also executed for murder charges.

The two men sentenced to death for moharebeh through armed robbery have been identified as Ali Mamashlu and Morteza Abdolhosseinpour. Two unidentified Afghan nationals were executed for rape charges.

IHRNGO warned of their executions on 1st October. Another man who was transferred for the gallows with the others was returned to his cell after obtaining an extension in his case.

Hamshahri newspaper reported the executions of one woman and five men. However, the executions of Ali Mamashlu and Morteza Abdolhosseinpour have not been reported by official sources at the time of writing.

According to the report, the unnamed woman was accused of murdering her husband with the help of another man on 1 March 2017.

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. Crucially, while an indicative 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.

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.