Authorities in Iran on Monday executed a Jewish man, Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani, who had been sentenced to death for murder, Iranian media reported.
“The sentence of retribution was executed this morning,” said Hamidreza Karimi, the prosecutor for Kermanshah in western Iran, according to the Mehr news agency.
According to one version of events, in November 2022, seven men, including Amir Shokri, a non-Jewish man who owed money to Ghahremani, then 18, ambushed him at a gym.
The purported victim, Amir Shokri, pulled out a large knife and stabbed Ghahremani. Ghahremani fought back in self-defense and fatally stabbed him.
Under Iranian law, relatives of murder victims may choose to accept a cash settlement and spare the killer’s life. Shokri’s family declined the cash offer and insisted on the sentence being carried out, Mehr reported.
Ghahremani’s family had said during his trial that “key errors in the case were intentionally ignored” and that his actions to save the victim were not taken into account, according to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).
The man’s relatives also said that Ghahremani was not adequately represented by his defense lawyer.
Ghahremani’s execution had been set for May, but he received a last-minute stay of execution. Jewish activists, including Rabbi Moshe Margaretten of the Tzedek Association, had been working to stop the execution.
Great efforts were made via international organizations to prevent the execution. Various parties appealed to several countries to intervene, including Russia and Germany. Additionally, lawyers and officials in Iranian Jewish communities in the US made efforts to try to influence the family of the victim to commute the death sentence and accept financial compensation.
The Islamic Republic executed 853 people in 2023—the most since 2015, London-based Amnesty International said last month.
Earlier this year, Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, expressed concerns that Ghahremani was not receiving a fair trial because he was Jewish.
“We note with concern that Iranian authorities often subject Jewish citizens to different standards when it comes to determining judgments in cases of this nature,” she said.
It is a regime of criminals who want to destroy the Jewish people, and we must already attack their nuclear sites. Without delay. If we can, we must.
The Jews living there?
They should probably leave….most Jews left there for a reason and thats the sad state of affairs for Jews throughout the ages
They can not leave. If they could they would. Iran does not allow people to leave the country for more than a vacation and does allow the entire family to go on a vacation out of Iran together. If they don’t return there will be severe consequences for the family members remaining in Iran. For Jews they make it even harder.
They should leave or keep their heads down. I have many Iranian Jewish friends. They are great people, and understand their the future of the Jewish nation is at stake.
What a sad unsettling story 🙁
Moshiach now
We need trump to uproot Ayatollahs
We need Hashem. Put your trust in the One Above not a goyishe president
Yes
It will help, however, to have a President who is willing to take on that regime and not one that is appeasing them. So yes we must hope Trump is elected.
With a bunch of JEWISH grandkids
ה’ ינקום דמו
משיח נאו
HYD!
The IDF Iyh will avenge his death when they bomb those ayatollahs and nuclear and oil refineries back to the Middle Ages.
They know their days are numbered and President Trump will ensure it.
That’s horrible.
Hashem will avenge his blood.
I have been saying this for years : We must stop putting our trust in a person to save us, esp a GOY. We must demand like Choni HaMag’il our TRUE and APPROPRIATE and now ULTIMATE bracha from HASHEM…Redemption/Geula. No matter how soothing the words and how generous the promises, Shayvet Layvie didn’t put trust in Egyptians or a Pharo. They were not enslaved. We must insist on only HaShem for our Second Yetziyas Mitzrayim … By His Hand alone. Only He will redeem us from the slavery of having to rely on others and of dependence on a foreign… Read more »
What a tragedy. Baruch Dayan Haaemes May he be reunited with his family now. Such cruel evil people.
May Hashem unite us and bring geulah and may we celebrate with our Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach and all our loved ones now.