Asghar Tabarzin Executed in Tabriz in March

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Tabriz Central Prison on 17 March. His identity has been established as 34-year-old Asghar Tabarzin from Hashtroud. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Asghar Tabarzin was arrested for murder three years ago. He worked for a company where he gets into a fight with the site manager that ended with the murder.”

Despite 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.