Nasrollah Khodadadi and Fereydoun Varasteh Hanged for Murder in Shirvan

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Shirvan Prison on 14 June 2026. His identity has been established as Nasrollah Khodadadi, a 36-year-old Kurdish man from the Kikanlu tribe in Shirvan. He was arrested three years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

Another man was hanged at the prison on 17 June. His identity has been established as Fereydoun Varasteh, a 40-year-old father who was arrested two years ago. He was also on death row for murder.

At the time of writing, neither 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 diya 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 2025 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 747 people including 48 women, were executed for murder charges, the highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Under 7% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2025, IHRNGO also recorded 566 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.