Ahmad Alizadeh Hanged for Second Time in Ghezelhesar Prison

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Ghezelhesar Prison on 13 November. His identity has been established as 26-year-old Ahmad Alizadeh who was sentenced to qisas(retribution-in-kind) for murder. He was taken to the gallows in April and hanged but pulled down after 28 seconds at the request of the plaintiffs and transferred back to his cell after being resuscitated.

One of his relatives told IHRNGO: “Ahmad has been behind bars for murder since 12 October 2018 when he was 20 years old. On 27 April this year, his sentence was implemented in Ghezelhesar Prison. He was hanged for 28 seconds but pulled down at the request of the plaintiff who shouted “forgiveness, forgiveness” and brought back to life with CPR.”
“He was an elite student who never accepted the charges as he had confessed under torture but they want to execute him again tomorrow,” the source added.

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. 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.