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
- 9,155
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 9,155 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
JANUARY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hasan Gergij executed in Zahedan on January 20
JANUARY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Eslahollah Bakhsh and Hamid Ebadinejad executed in Rasht on January 18
JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalil Soleimani executed in Hamedan on January 17
JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Eslam Aman Aldini executed in Qom on January 17
JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mashahdi executed in Mashhad on January 17
JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj on January 17
Bahman Fathollahzadeh, Imani Shabani, Keramat Jan Nazarkhani, + 1 unk.
JANUARY 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kamran Khoroush executed in Shiraz on January 16
JANUARY 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Habib Darivishi executed in Kermanshah on January 16
JANUARY 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Akram Karimpour executed in Hamedan on January 16
JANUARY 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Mehri executed in Ilam on January 16
- JANUARY 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Narges Mohammadi has been sentenced to a further 15 months
Nobel Peace Prize for 2023
JANUARY 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - New Charges Against Two Journalists After Their Release
Elaheh Mohammadi and Niloofar Hamedi published photographs on social media without wearing head scarves
JANUARY 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yaghoub Alimoradi executed in Nahavand on January 15
JANUARY 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentences of ten political prisoners upheld
Mojahed Kourkouri, Reza Rasaei, Farhad Salimi, Anwar Khezri, Khosrow Besharat, Kamran Sheikheh, Mohsen Mazloum, Mohammad Faramarzi, Vafa Azarbar, and Pejman Fatehi
JANUARY 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - At least six men executed in Karaj on January 14
Ahmad Latifi, Ali Akbar Moradian, Akbar Khoramtash, Hadi Nazari, Seyed Ali Miri and Amirhossein Maleki
JANUARY 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Heidari executed in Khorramabad on January 13
JANUARY 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 17 Groups Call for Action to Halt Execution of Four Kurdish Political Prisoners
Mohsen Mazloum, Pejman Fatehi, Vafa Azarbar, and Hajir Faramarzi
JANUARY 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Falit Abed executed in Qazvin on January 11
JANUARY 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Meisam Habibi executed in Kermanshah on January 11
JANUARY 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nizam Dehmordeh executed in Yazd on January 11
JANUARY 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mohammad Ahmadi executed in Kermanshah on January 11
JANUARY 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Final balance of executions in 2023
JANUARY 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Ali Mirzaei and Mahmoud Mirzaei executed in Karaj on January 10
JANUARY 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Hossein Garavand and Kaiumars Gholami executed in Karaj on January 8
JANUARY 7, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yousef Sobhani and Akbar Javadzadeh executed in Rasht on January 7
JANUARY 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Saravani executed in Zahedan on December 16
JANUARY 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Soheil Jalvaran and Hojat Kalkhoran executed in Ardabil on January 4
JANUARY 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Sabzevar on January 4
Hashem Zorabadi, Amir Ahmadzadeh, Mehdi Kivanlu
- JANUARY 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Soheil Jeloran and Hojjat Kalkhoran executed in Ardabil on January 4
JANUARY 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Moradian executed in Hamadan on January 4