Iran executes Jewish Iranian man after settlement aimed at saving him was rejected

Iranian authorities have executed a member of Iran’s Jewish community who was convicted of murder, an watchdog organization says, at a time of rising tensions with Israel.

Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani was hanged in prison in the western city of Kermanshah after being convicted of a murder during a street fight, says the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group.

Ghahremani was allegedly defending himself against knife attack when he killed Amir Shokri in a 2022 brawl.

Under Iranian law, once a person is found guilty of intentional murder, the only way that the death sentence can be commuted is if the family of the deceased says it forgives the perpetrator.

According to Hebrew media reports, Ghahremani’s family and the local Jewish community had offered Shokri’s family a financial settlement to prevent the execution, as is allowed under the law, but the family refused.

Earlier this year it was reported that Shokri’s family had come under pressure from a close aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the intelligence division of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps not to accept the settlement.

Ghahremani was previously supposed to have been executed in May but was granted a last-minute stay of the sentence at the time.

AFP contributed to this report.