Shouresh Sattarzadeh Hanged for Accidental Death After 20 Years on Death Row

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Sanandaj Central Prison on 1st July 2026. His identity has been established as Shouresh Sattarzadeh, a 38-year-old Kurdish man from Saqqez. He was arrested 20 years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “The background to the case was that the family's brother-in-law used to beat Shouresh's sister. He went to confront his brother-in-law to object to this, and an argument ensued between them; the brother-in-law's mother stepped in to mediate, but she tripped, fell to the ground, and died instantly. Shouresh was arrested over the incident and sentenced to qisas.”

The source further added: "Following this event, Shouresh's sister returned to her parents' home. However, despite having remarried and had children over the last 20 years, her husband has still not divorced her. Ultimately, Shouresh was executed for this tragic incident after spending 20 years in prison."

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.