Iran executed a member of its Jewish minority, Arvin Ghahremani, on Monday, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR). Ghahremani was hanged in a Kermanshah prison after being convicted of murder during a street fight.
IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam highlighted significant flaws in the legal case and noted that institutionalized anti-Semitism likely influenced the execution. Ghahremani was accused of killing a man in a 2022 street fight, but his family claimed he acted in self-defense after being attacked with a knife.
Ghahremani's mother, Sonia Saadati, pleaded for clemency, and the family sought to settle with the victim's relatives through blood money under Iran's Islamic law of retribution. However, the victim's family refused, leading to the execution.
Iran has seen a surge in executions this year, with at least 654 people hanged, including 166 in October alone. Mizan Online, the Iranian judiciary's website, confirmed Ghahremani's execution but did not mention his Jewish faith. The incident was reportedly due to a financial dispute, and Ghahremani's lawyers' requests for a retrial were repeatedly denied.
The Jewish community in Iran, once substantial, has dwindled since the 1979 Islamic Revolution but remains the largest in the Middle East outside Israel. While Jewish Iranians were executed in the revolution's immediate aftermath, there have been no recent cases. Tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated this year, with both countries exchanging air attacks.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has vowed further retaliation against Israel. The US State Department's latest report on religious freedom cites the Tehran Jewish Committee as estimating the Jewish population in Iran at around 9,000.
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