Omid Sadeghi Souri Hanged for Murder in Tabriz

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison on 10 May 2026. His identity has been established as 26-year-old Omid Sadeghi Souri who was arrested around four years ago. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. 

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Omid Sadeghi Souri was arrested for killing another individual during a street fight. He had been in a state of extreme psychological distress for the past 20 days, ever since the Sentences Implementation Unit informed him that his execution was imminent. Omid cried constantly, saying he was far too young and was terrified of death; he maintained that the killing was entirely accidental and insisted on his innocence."

"Throughout these 20 days, he remained awake at night for fear that they would come for him in the early hours to carry out the sentence. He would pace the corridor of the ward or sit in a corner in tears. On Saturday, before being moved to solitary confinement, he shouted loudly in the ward, 'I'm innocent, please help me, don't let them execute me.' The other prisoners tried to intercede with the guards, but it was to no avail. Omid was so utterly broken that he did not even wish to see his family for a final visit, settling instead for a brief telephone call," the source added.

At the time of writing, 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.

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.