Mehdi Mirzayi Hanged for Murder in Malayer

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Malayer Prison on 12 October 2026. His identity has been established as 22-year-old Mehdi Mirzayi who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Mehdi was arrested roughly four years ago, just after he had turned 18. The incident began when he got into a fight with someone else in an unfamiliar neighbourhood. In the midst of the scuffle, a third person (the victim) approached them and began shouting obscenities about their families for fighting in his neighbourhood. During the ensuing altercation, Mehdi unintentionally struck him with a knife, tragically leading to the man's death."

The source added: "During the legal proceedings, Mehdi's father had been advised not to hire a defence lawyer for his son, under the pretext that it might provoke or upset the victim's family and ruin the chances of forgiveness. Despite his family's tireless efforts to secure their consent, the next of kin insisted on the execution, and the young man was ultimately sent to the gallows on Monday."

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 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. In the first nine months of 2026, at least 306 people were executed for murder charges.