Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 9 October 2026: Ashraf Faraji, a mother under psychiatric care, was executed in Sari Central Prison. Approximately 85 men and 6 women, including a possible child offender, are on death row at the prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a woman was hanged in Sari Central Prison on 30 September 2026. Her identity has been established as Ashraf Faraji, a 57-year-old mother of four. Ashraf was an Ahvazi native who lived in Sari. She was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for the murder of her husband by Branch 2 of Sari Criminal Court which was later upheld by Branch 6 of the Supreme Court.
An informed source told IHRNGO: "For around two years prior to the incident, she suffered severely and had been under the care of a psychiatrist. In October 2022, she clashed with her husband over financial matters, particularly the payment of their daughter's school fees. During this heated verbal dispute, in an agitated state, she attacked her husband with a kitchen knife. Her husband was taken to hospital and died a few hours later from blood loss."
The source added: "Her family circumstances were deeply tragic. Due to the death of their father, her children refused to go to the prison for a final visit and said she was no longer their mother. Following the execution, they did not hold a memorial service for her either, and only Ashraf's sister and brothers had visited her to say a final farewell."
At the time of writing, her execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.
IHRNGO reported the execution of Shahram Fazlollah-Tabar, bringing the number of executions to two at the prison that day.
Informed sources also told IHRNGO: “Approximately 85 men with confirmed death sentences are currently on death row for murder and drug-related charges in Sari Central Prison. The capital cases of 23 others are currently being considered by the Supreme Court.”
“In the women's ward, six women convicted of murder and two women convicted of drug-related offences have been sentenced to death. One of the women, Leila Ghoreishi, was 16 when she was forced to marry the man she was accused of killing at 17 years old. She was convicted of murder and her case is currently under review at the Supreme Court,” the source added.
IHRNGO has not been to independently verify Leila Ghoreishi’s case through documentation.
Ashraf Faraji is the 23rd woman whose execution has been documented in 2026. In 2025, at least 48 women were executed, the highest number of women executions recorded in Iran in more than two decades. Iran executes the highest recorded number of women globally.
In January 2025, IHRNGO published a report titled “Women and the Death Penalty in Iran; a Gendered Perspective,” which sheds light on the contemporary experiences of women facing the death penalty, focusing on the discriminatory laws and societal factors that perpetuate their suffering.
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.