Iran Human Rights (IHR); September 28, 2020: A prisoner sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, has been executed at Gonbad Kavous Prison.
According to the Iran newspaper website, on the morning of 28 September, a man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) was executed at Gonbad Kavous Prison. The prisoner, who is yet to be identified, had been accused of killing two teenagers when he was 21 years old.
According to the article, the executed death row inmate had "cited revenge as the motive for the murder and had said to have had an argument with Adnan, one of the two teenagers killed, over an issue," which they agreed to resolve on 28 July 2017, the day the teenagers went missing, outside the city. “But after not reaching an agreement, I killed him with a knife and fearing that I would be exposed, I killed Adnan’s friend who had witnessed the incident.”
According to Iran Human Rights’ annual report, at least 225 of the 280 of those executed in 2019 were charged with "premeditated murder."
As there are no legal distinctions made between murder and manslaughter, whether voluntary or involuntary in Iran, those charged under the umbrella term of “premeditated murder” will receive the death penalty regardless of intent and the circumstances.