Mohammad Farhadzadeh and Hamid Chatrsimabeh Executed in Jiroft

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Jiroft Prison in Kerman province on 21 October. Mohammad Farhadzadeh (left photo) was arrested seven years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

The second man’s identity has been established as 40-year-old Hamid Chatrsimabeh (Sabaki) from Goldasht who was sentenced to qisas by the Criminal Court and “moharebeh (enmity against god) through clashing and killing a NAJA officer” by the Revolutionary Court.

Per informed IHRNGO sources, the victim’s family had agreed to forgo execution in the qisas case, the moharebeh sentence was carried out.

At the time of writing, their executions have 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. 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.