Ruhollah Halili at Imminent Risk of Execution Due to Inability to Pay Blood Money

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a 32-year-old man named Ruhollah Halili was transferred to solitary confinement on 18 October in preparation for his execution in Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. The victim’s family have set a deadline for execution if Ruhollah cannot pay the diya (blood money).

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Ruhollah Halili is from the Bakhtiari tribe in Isfahan and was arrested for murder charges five years ago. This is while he didn’t kill anyone, someone else had committed the murder but he was set up and introduced as the killer."

“The victim’s family have asked for 800 million tomans (approx. €11,500) as blood money and his sentence will be carried out on 20 October if he can’t pay,” the source added.

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.