Abdolbaset Shahdadzehi Hanged for Murder in Zahedan

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Zahedan Central Prison, Sistan and Baluchistan province, on 9 June 2025. His identity has been established as Abdolbaset Shahdadzehi, a 25-year-old Baluch man from the village of Kahnu in Khash.

He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Khash Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Abdolbaset was arrested for taking part in a tribal clash that led to the death of one individual. He had repeatedly denied committing the murder, stating that he was not armed during the clash so could not have shot the man.”

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. 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 five months of 2025, at least 233 people were executed for murder charges in Iran, per IHRNGO data.