Iran hangs Afghan prisoner with mobility disability while seated in wheelchair

Hengaw – Sunday, September 6, 2026

Iranian authorities hanged Valijan Nourzay, a 29-year-old Afghan prisoner with a mobility disability, while he was seated in a wheelchair at Rafsanjan Central Prison. Nourzay had been sentenced to death on a charge of “premeditated murder” and had lost his mobility after being shot by police during his arrest three years earlier.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Nourzay, from Farah, Afghanistan, was executed at dawn on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at Rafsanjan Central Prison in Kerman Province.

Informed sources told Hengaw that three years ago, Iranian authorities pursued Nourzay in Rafsanjan in connection with a charge of premeditated murder. Police shot and severely wounded him before arresting him. The Iranian judiciary later sentenced him to death.

The gunshot injuries were so severe that Nourzay lost his mobility and spent the following three years in prison using a wheelchair. He was ultimately hanged while seated in the wheelchair.

His execution has not been announced by Iran’s state media or judiciary-affiliated outlets.