Yadollah Talebvand Executed in Khorramabad in March

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Khorramabad Central Prison on 17 March. His identity has been established as 43-year-old Yadollah Talebvand from Masour in Khorramabad. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Yadollah Talebvand was an army officer. He was accused of killing Nasir Farokhnejad, a lawyer, with a knife two years ago.”

Despite almost a month passing, 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 circumstances 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.

In 2023, at least 282 people including two juvenile offenders and 15 women, were executed for murder charges, the second highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 20% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2023, Iran Human Rights also recorded 857 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.