A prisoner was hanged on Saturday, November 3, at Ardakan Prison of Yazd, central Iran.
Samei Mohtarami, 45, was taken to solitary confinement on November 1. He was found guilty of murder.
He was granted a chance to obtain the required diyeh (financial compensation) for the victim’s family. Being poor, the Mohtarami family could not raise the money.
In Iran a convicted murderer has no right to seek pardon or commutation from the state, though this right is protected by Article 6(4) of the ICCPR. The family of a murder victim has the right either to insist on execution or to pardon the killer and receive diyeh.
The Iranian authorities contend that qesas – the sentence for convicted murderers – is not execution, despite the face that people sentenced to qesas are put to death by the state. This contention is not accepted in international law.
