Group Hanging of 4 Men Including Afghan National in Ghezelhesar Prison

According to Hamshahri Online and  crime news website Jenayi, four unnamed men were hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison on 4 November 2026. They were all sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for separate murders.

IHRNGO has established the identity of one of the men as Gol Agha Eskandari, an Afghan national. Jenayi claimed he was arrested for killing a neighbour during an altercation over building maintenance ffees in the Khorasan Square area of Tehran in July 2024.

Hamshahri Online also reported details on the cases of three other men. According to the report, the first man was accused of murdering a man in January/February 2024 by injecting him with ketamine in complicity with the victim’s wife. The second man was convicted of the murder of his wife on 10 December 2022 following disputes over divorce and dowry, whilst the third man was convicted of killing a neighbour in 2021 following an argument over loud television volume.

According to Hamshahri, four other man were also taken to the gallows on the day of the executions, but were returned to their wards after managing to secure last-minute extensions from the next of kin.

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 ten months of 2026, at least 353 people were executed for murder charges.