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
- 8,611
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 8,611 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
NOVEMBER 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saied Alizehi and Esmaiel Alizehi executed in Zahedan on November 4
Two Baloch brothers
NOVEMBER 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jamshid Sharmahd in Critical Health Condition
A German-Iranian man living in the USA
- NOVEMBER 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Dissident Iranian Composer Receives UN Award for “Courageous” Work
Mehdi Rajabian
NOVEMBER 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Isfahan on November 2
Ebrahim Naroi (Narui, Narooie), Nasir Karimi, and Ali Hadi + Unk
NOVEMBER 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 women and a man sentenced to death for adultery
Leila Khalghi Sakachayi, Mitra … and Abolfazl Barat Vakili
NOVEMBER 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Golmohammadi executed in Arak on November 2
- NOVEMBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN 6 men executed in Karaj on November 1
Ehsan Haddad, Abbas Anarki, Kuchak Behrouz, Mohsen Abbasi, Yadalollah Farrokhi and Sadegh Tajik.
NOVEMBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sadegh Tajik and Yadollah Farrokhi executed in Karaj on November 1
NOVEMBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Maryam Foroughmanesh, a woman, executed in Yasuj on November 1.
15th woman execution recorded in 2023 in Iran
- OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 87 executions in October
- OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamid Takavar executed in Karaj on October 30
OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalal Vahdati and Khalil Mohammadi executed in Khorramabad on October 30
OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalil Nutizehi executed in Isfahan on October 30
648 executions so far in 2023
OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed on October 30
At an unspecified prison in Golestan province
OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Heydar Salkhord, Shahab Sadeghzadeh, and Mansour Taqvaei executed in Shiraz on October 30
OCTOBER 29, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Armita Garavand was buried amid tight security in Tehran on October 29
Nasrin Sotoudeh was beaten and arrested at the funeral
OCTOBER 29, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shamsollah Banani executed in Ahar on October 29
OCTOBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Teenage Armita Garavand (Geravand) Dies In Hospital
OCTOBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Davood Behzadi executed in Esfarayen on October 28
672 executions in Iran in 2023
- OCTOBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - A man executed in "one of Tehran's prisons"
Over the past days
OCTOBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amir Hossein Dashtban executed in Tabriz on October 26
OCTOBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Birjand on October 26
Abdolbasir Mohammadani (Rend), Mohammad Nabi Shahuzehi (Lojei), Mohammad Mirshah, Reza Shahraki and Omid Javini
OCTOBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hayatollah Eiduzehi executed in Kerman on October 25
OCTOBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalil Seyed Rezaei executed in Qazvin on October 25
OCTOBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Karaj on October 25
- OCTOBER 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Karaj on October 24
628 executions in Iran in 2023
OCTOBER 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Man executed in Khoy on October 24
Identified only as A.M.
OCTOBER 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on October 23
Asghar Jafari, Majid Mousayi and Ali Kheirbin
OCTOBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Armita Garavand's Family Implicitly Confirms Brain Death
OCTOBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khosro Naghiani executed in Karaj on October 22