At Least 3 Men Hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least three men were hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison on 21 May 2025. Two of the men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. Their identities have been established as Morteza Arayeshgar and Jahanshah Afshari.

The third man’s identity has been established as Alim Barahouyi (photo), a 67-year-old Baluch man from Zahedan. He was arrested five years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges.

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. Should the victim’s family choose execution, they are not only encouraged to attend, but also to physically carry out the execution themselves. 

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.

In the first four months of 2025, at least 153 people were executed for murder charges in Iran, per IHRNGO data.