Valijan Nourzay and Yadollah Shamsi Hanged for Murder in Rafsanjan

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Rafsanjan Prison on 2 September 2026. His identity has been established as Valijan Nourzay (photo), a 29-year-old Afghan man from a village in Farah province. He was arrested three years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Valijan claimed he had nothing to do with the murder, but as he was the only person left on the scene, he escaped out of fear. Two weeks later, he was shot by security forces while on the run in Rafsanjan. Valijan spent the next three years in a wheelchair due to the injuries. Yet, the court ignored his defence and he was transferred to the gallows in the same wheelchair.”

Another man was hanged at the prison on 17 August. He has been identified as 30-year-old Yadollah Shamsi from Rafsanjan. He was arrested four years ago and also sentenced to qisas for murder.

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 mitigating factors 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.