At dawn on Wednesday, September 8, Ali Mardan Boland Gerami, was executed in Yasuj Prison.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Gerami was sentenced to death for murder based on “Qasameh”, an accepted form of proof of guilt within Iran’s legal system based solely on relatives’ oaths.

Mr. Gerami was sentenced to death for murdering his wife, and, while the court did not find adequate evidence, it made the ruling based on the swearing of the wife’s family.

Iran ranks first in the world in citizen executions per capita, according to international organizations. The Statistics and Publication Center of the Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) reported that between January 1 and December 20 of 2020, at least 236 citizens were executed.

One of these citizens was executed publicly, and two were juvenile offenders. An additional 95 citizens were sentenced to death. According to the same report, more than 72% of executions in Iran are not reported by the government or the judiciary, which human rights organizations call “secret” executions.