Behnam Abdi and Sajad Hosseini Hanged in Qazvin

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Qazvin (Choobindar) Central Prison on 6 May 2026. His identity has been established as Behnam Abdi, a 49-year-old father of two from Qazvin. He was arrested around three years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

Another man was hanged at the prison on 27 April. He has been identified as Sajad Hosseini, a 27-year-old man from Tehran. He was arrested around six years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Sajad was arrested for the murder after a street fight. He was previously transferred to the gallows twice, once three years ago and again last June. On both occasions, he was returned to his ward after the victim's family granted extensions. They had demanded 9 billion tomans as diya(blood money). Through immense effort, Sajad's family managed to raise 5.4 billion tomans, but the plaintiffs refused to accept this amount."

At the time of writing, their executions have 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 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.