Iran
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 869
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 2,156
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · The 1999 figures for capital sentences and executions...
- News items in the archive
- 9,221
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Iran is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 869 executions in the country, against 2,156 the year before. The archive holds 9,221 news items on Iran, from 1999 to today.
Iran is one of the countries where the association records the highest number of executions each year. The usual method is hanging, and capital punishment applies to a wide list of offences: murder, drug offences, offences against state security, sexual offences, and charges such as moharebeh, enmity against God, which allow very broad application.
Many executions are never announced. They emerge from local sources, from human rights organisations and from families. For Iran, more than anywhere else, the archive's count is a documented minimum.
Latest news
APRIL 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Kerman on April 20
Ahmadreza Miri, Shamseddin Kashani, Shokat Shehbakhsh (Darkzehi), Jamal Mardani + Unk
APRIL 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Jadgal and Mohammad Anjamrooz executed in Chabahar on April 20
APRIL 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Mashhad on April 18
Zaman Taheri, Salam Taheri, Gholam Ghader Samani, and Ebrahim Nour-Zahi
APRIL 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Fariborz Dadgar executed in Ahvaz on April 18
APRIL 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Movahedi executed in Karaj on April 18
- APRIL 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Two men executed in Karaj on April 17, 2024
Sadegh Tajik + Unk
- APRIL 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Karaj on April 17
APRIL 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Valiollah Bakhtavar executed in Tabriz on April 17
APRIL 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amin Mousavi Bakhshayesh executed in Tabriz on April 17
APRIL 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Afshin Bagh-Shirin executed in Urmia on April 16
APRIL 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 unidentified men executed in Mashhad on April 15
After the traditional slowdown during Ramadan, executions in Iran have resumed at full speed
APRIL 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Arsalan Hashemi executed in Hamedan on April 14
APRIL 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abuzar Salem executed in Isfahan on April 13
APRIL 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Esmaeil Hosniani and Marjan Hajizadeh executed in Zanjan on April 11
Husband and 19 year old wife
APRIL 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 82 Rights Groups: UNODC Must Stop Complicity in Drug Executions in Iran
Hands off Cain amongst the signatories
APRIL 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Mirgozar executed on April 10 at unspecified prison
APRIL 7, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Marzban executed in Shiraz on April 7
APRIL 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kurdistan Human Rights Network’s Annual Report
For the Iranian year 1402 (21 March 2023 – 19 March 2024)
APRIL 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Ali Mirzania executed in Khorramabad on April 5
APRIL 3, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death Sentence for Police Officer Jafar Javanmardi, who Killed Protester
Reflections on a very rare event
APRIL 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentence for political prisoner Shahriar Bayat
MARCH 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men and 1 woman executed in Tabriz
Abbas Aghayi, Yasin Zolfaghari and his unidentified wife
MARCH 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - “Black Tuesdays” Hunger Strikes Against the Death Penalty
Political prisoners from five prisons
- MARCH 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Scale of Iran rights abuses slammed at UN
At UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
MARCH 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 7 Public Executions in 2023
MARCH 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Asghar Tabarzin executed in Tabriz on March 17
MARCH 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yadollah Talebvand executed in Khorramabad on March 17
An army officer
MARCH 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Mehran Akrami lost his life under torture
A 32 year old Kurdish man
MARCH 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Implemented Executions versus Forgiveness
282 executions for murder, but 857 avoided
MARCH 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Behzad Bidrang executed in Qazvin on March 14