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
JULY 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamed Hosseinpour executed in Maku on July 12
JULY 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Ali Zarouni executed in Ilam on July 12
JULY 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 unidentified men executed in Gohardasht on July 12
- JULY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bakhtiar Cheraghi executed in Kermanshah on July 11
JULY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Musa Shahbakhsh executed in Zahedan on July 11
- JULY 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hadi Shahuzehi executed in Kerman on June 9
- JULY 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 women executed in Isfahan on July 9
Monireh Sayadat and Farzieh Shokrollahi
- JULY 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ebrahim Alizehi executed in Zahedan on June 9
- JULY 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Two unidentified men executed in Arak on July 9
JULY 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Ramez Rashidi and Naeem Hashem Ghotali hanged in public on July 8
Afghan citizens charged with terrorism
JULY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abbas Rashgi and Saber Moghadami executed in Adel Abad on July 6
JULY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mousa Hakimi executed in Qom on July 6
- JULY 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - UN: Iran Must Stop Executions Of Protesters
JULY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Bandar Abbas on July 4
Names not known
JULY 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yasser Golzardian executed in Khorramabad on July 2
JULY 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A woman, Afsaneh Shahiki, executed in Kerman on July 2
213 women executed since 2007
JULY 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Bahador Salimi executed in Qazvin on July 2
396 executions since the beginning of 2023
JULY 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farshad Abdoli and Mojtaba Chegeni executed in Karaj on July 1
JULY 1, 2023GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - German Party Leader Refused Visit To Condemned German-Iranian Citizen
Friedrich Merz will not meet Jamshid Sharmahd
JUNE 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Council of the European Union targets 7 Iranians
over serious human rights violations
JUNE 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ishaq Anshini executed in Zahedan on June 14
JUNE 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Gomshadzehi and Eshagh Anshini executed in Zahedan on June 24
- JUNE 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hemin Mostafaei executed on June 21 in Sanandaj
- JUNE 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Aref Havasi executed in Ilam on June 20
JUNE 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Siamak Lutfi executed in Tabriz on June 20
JUNE 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Seifi executed in Tabriz on June 20
JUNE 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Al-Nasser and Abbas Khanjari executed in Ahvaz on June 19
- JUNE 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Danesh Salari executed in Kahnuj on June 19
380 executions since the beginning of the year
JUNE 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Samadi executed in Saveh on June 19
- JUNE 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Mula Shamsi executed on June 18 in Zanjan