Zahir Shamsi Hanged in Ahvaz

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Ahvaz Sepidar Prison on 5 April 2025. His identity has been established as 32-year-old Zahir Shamsi from Dezful. He was a tiler prior to arrest and was father to a five-year-old girl.

Zahir was arrested for the murder of his male (maternal) cousin four years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind).

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.

According to IHRNGO’s 2024 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 419 people including a juvenile offender and 19 women, were executed for murder charges, the highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 12% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2024, Iran Human Rights also recorded 649 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.