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
- 8,610
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 8,610 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
- OCTOBER 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 men executed in Zahedan on October 21
Zaher Narouyi (Naroui) (Shirzehi) + Unk
OCTOBER 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman and 1 man executed in Isfahan on October 21
Davoud Jalali and an unidentified woman
- OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hossein Ali Dil Baluch executed in Birjand on October 19
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Kakavand and Fathollah Rashnu executed in Khorramabad on October 19
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Rashidi Garavand executed in Aligudarz on October 19
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad-Ali Vahidi executed in Gonbad-e Kavus on October 19
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The EU parliament has awarded its prestigious Sakharov Prize to Mahsa Amini
And to the "Women, Life, Freedom" protest movement
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Arman Rezazadeh executed in Rasht on October 19
- OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamed Heidari executed in Rasht on October 19
OCTOBER 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - At least 10 men were executed in Karaj on October 18
Hojat Beg Rezaei, Shahab Shahbazi, Mohammad Behzadi + 7 Unk
OCTOBER 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khodabakhsh … executed in Zahedan on October 18
OCTOBER 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nazem Abayi and Baluch Ali Barzang executed in Isfahan on October 17
- OCTOBER 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - … Ketabi executed in Rasht on October 17
OCTOBER 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Khorramabad on October 17
Sajad Moradi, Yaser Golzardian + Unk.
OCTOBER 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nader Karami executed in Gorgan on October 17
OCTOBER 16, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentence for political prisoner Naeb Askari
- OCTOBER 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Ardabil on October 15
OCTOBER 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Asghar Cheraghifar (Cheraghi Far) executed in Zanjan on October 14
OCTOBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Mohammadi executed in Rasht on October 12
OCTOBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Armita Garavand is in an irreversible coma
OCTOBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Rasaei is sentenced to death
Activist participant in the nationwide protests of 2022
OCTOBER 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Bahrehmand executed in Hamedan on October 11
OCTOBER 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Three men executed in Qezel Hesar on October 11
Nazir Mohammad Tajik, Nour Mohammad Barbari, and Shahab Elhami
OCTOBER 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahab …executed in Qezel Hesar on October 11
(surname unknown)
OCTOBER 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abbas Ali Maghami and Mehdi Shadab executed in Tabriz on October 11
- OCTOBER 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hossein Alizadeh executed in Bam on October 10
OCTOBER 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Isfahan on October 10
- OCTOBER 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Isfahan on October 9
OCTOBER 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 unidentified men executed in Kerman on October 9
OCTOBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Emambakhsh Gorgij executed in Torbat Heydarieh on October 8