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
MAY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Majid Sharifi and Ali Tabib executed in Isfahan on May 23
MAY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Maysam Sadri executed in Zanjan on May 23
MAY 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Grave of Zhina Mahsa Amini vandalised in Saqqez
MAY 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A prisoner named Milad Bahmanzadeh died of heart attack before his execution
- MAY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahrooz Sokhanvari executed in Gohardasht on May 20
- MAY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 1 more execution in Ghezel-Hesar on May 20
Shahram Sharqi
MAY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Karaj on May 20
Saeed Garavand, Samad Garavand, and Shahab Mansourinesb Garavand
MAY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Asif Shahbakhsh executed in Zahedan on May 20
295 executions since the beginning of the year
MAY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shaban Yousefi executed in Gohardasht on May 20
- MAY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Isfahan on May 19
Yaghoub Hassani, Mazhar Davari, Ali Mehrdel, Kazem Ghofrankhah
MAY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi executed in Isfahan on 19 May
Accused of a 'political' crime
MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mustafa Salehi executed in Sanandaj on May 18
MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jamshid Kaimi executed in Sanandaj on May 18
MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Kerman on May 18
Hossein Poursheikh, Omid Jan Abadi, Nabiollah Zaboli + Unk
MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Cousins Mostafa and Farhad Vafayi executed in Rasht on May 18
MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Khorramabad on May 18
Ali Khoramshah Amrayi, Najaf Soleiman Reshad, Firouz Yarinejad + Unk
MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nader Rigi executed in Jiroft on May 18
MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - An man Afghan executed in Gohardasht on 18 May
Identified as Saeed, or Masoud
MAY 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Borzu Chaqazardi and Saeed Najafi executed in Kermanshah on May 17
MAY 16, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sha’aban Yousefi executed in Gorgan on May 16
- MAY 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Qezel Hesar on May 10
MAY 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Bandarabbas and Minab prisons on May 15
Abdolrahman Mousazehi, Jalal Rigi + 3 unk.
- MAY 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 1 man executed in Fereydun Kenar on May 15
Identified only as M. A.
MAY 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Padayar and Peyman Akbari Birgani executed in Khorramabad on May 15
MAY 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Arjumandi and Kayumars Menbari executed in Sanandaj on May 14
- MAY 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Iran is entitled to chair an event of the United Nation's Human Rights Council
The Iranian government tries to demean the opposition
MAY 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 6 men executed in Kerman on May 13
Amrollah Adish, Kambiz Davarpanah and four unidentified men
- MAY 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 foreign citizens released from Iranian prisons
Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan
- MAY 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hossein Rigi executed in Mashhad on May 12
- MAY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran - Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentences of Three Protesters
Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi