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
DECEMBER 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Birjand on December 3
Mohammad Naeimi Far (Brahui), Ahmad Shahoo-Zahi, Maziar Narooie, and Hamid Sarani
DECEMBER 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - European Union: Current Pace Of Executions In Iran ‘Appalling’
NOVEMBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Naser Alizehi and Naser Ozbakzehi executed in Zahedan on November 30
769 executions since the beginning of the year
NOVEMBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Kamran Rezaei executed in Shiraz on November 30
NOVEMBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 118 Kolbars killed or wounded in November
mountain carriers
NOVEMBER 29, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ayoub Karimi executed in Karaj on November 29
A Kurdish religious prisoner
NOVEMBER 29, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Moradkhan Geravand and Morad Biranvand executed in Khorramabad on November 29
NOVEMBER 29, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Massoud Basak executed in Kashan on November 29
NOVEMBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Two more men executed on November 28 in Ilam
Unk so far
NOVEMBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Eghbal Fathollahi and Mohsen Amraie executed in Karaj on November 28
NOVEMBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hani Shahbazi (Al-Boushehbazi) executed in Ahvaz on November 28.
Shahbazi was arrested during the November 2019 protests
NOVEMBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Bakhshayesh executed in Karaj on 28 November
NOVEMBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Agha Mohammadi and Naser Maghsoudi executed in Ilam on 28 November
NOVEMBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahram Mohammadbeigi executed in Ilam on November 28
NOVEMBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 more4 executions in Karaj on November 28
For a total of 7
- NOVEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Nahavand on November 26
Brothers Farshid and Farshad Pirhayati, Asghar Suri
NOVEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Rastkhiz executed in Shiraz on November 26
NOVEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Adel Damani executed in Chabahar on November 26
16 years old at the time of the alleged offence
NOVEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Names of 50 female political prisoners in Iran’s Evin prison
NOVEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Heydari executed in Khorramabad on November 25
NOVEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Two men Executed in Rasht on November 25
Political prisoner Geda Ali Saber Motlagh and Mohsen Sedaghat
NOVEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified woman executed in Rasht on November 25
NOVEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - More information about the execution of Hamidreza Azari
He was 17 at the time of the crime
NOVEMBER 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified young man executed in Sabzevar on 24 November
Possibly a minor at the time of the crime
NOVEMBER 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mother of executed protester arrested for wailing at his funeral
Afsaneh Zohrevand, mother of Milad Zohrevand
NOVEMBER 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Milad Zohrevand secretly executed in Hamadan on November 23
A political prisoner
NOVEMBER 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rasoul Gorgij and Shahmorad Davoudi executed in Mashhad on November 23
NOVEMBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Andishkouh and Moslem Jamshidi executed in Karaj on November 22
NOVEMBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Zamharir executed in Tabriz on November 22
NOVEMBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men executed in Karaj on November 22
Loghman Omrani + Unk