Mansour Bakhtiari, Abbas Gholi Seifzadeh and Rahman Bikar Hanged in Isfahan

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were hanged in Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison on 16 June 2026. Two of the men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for separate murders. Their identities have been established as Abbas Gholi Seifzadeh (photo), a 53-year-old father of three from Kashan and 32-year-old Rahman Bikar from Isfahan. Abbas Gholi was arrested for the murder of his cousin three years ago and Rahman was arrested for a murder during an altercation five years ago.

The third man has been identified 27-year-old Mansour Bakhtiari from Isfahan. He was arrested two years ago and sentenced to death on the charges of moharebeh (enmity against God) through an armed robbery.

At the time of writing, their execution 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 (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. In March 2026, the indicative diya was set at 2.1 billion tomans (approx. €10,700) for a Muslim man and 1.05 billion tomans (€5,350) for a Muslim woman, a 75% increase compared to the previous year. 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.