At Least 3 Men Executed in Tabriz

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least three men were executed in Tabriz Central Prison on 3 December. Two of the men were sentenced  to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court in separate cases. Their identities have been established as 33-year-old Khalil Hassanzadeh (right photo) and 62-year-old Abdollah Panahi (left photo).

The third man who was on death row for drug-related offences has been identified as Rasoul Ebrahimi.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Khalil Hassanzadeh was arrested around four years ago. Abdollah Panahi was arrested for killing an individual with a hunting rifle on a farm after an argument over irrigation.”

“Rasoul Ebrahimi was arrested for carrying 70 kilograms of shisheh (methamphetamine) around three years ago,” the source added.

At the time of writing, none of their executions have 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.