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
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 PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Isfahan on October 10
OCTOBER 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Alizadeh executed in Bam on October 10
OCTOBER 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 unidentified men executed in Kerman on October 9
OCTOBER 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Isfahan on October 9
OCTOBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Emambakhsh Gorgij executed in Torbat Heydarieh on October 8
- OCTOBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehrab Sintab executed in Karaj on October 8
OCTOBER 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jailed Iranian Activist Mohammadi Wins Nobel Peace Prize
OCTOBER 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Two unidentified men executed in Mashhad on October 6
OCTOBER 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 16-year-old girl seriously injured by 'moral police'
Armita Geravand (Garavand)
OCTOBER 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yasin Huseynzade sentenced to death
Assailant of Azerbaijan's embassy in Iran
OCTOBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Samad Moradi executed in Ramhormoz on October 1
OCTOBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Mashhad on October 1
- OCTOBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Kerman on October 1
Avaz Moradi, Ramezan Khorshid + 3 unk
OCTOBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Mashhad on October 1
- OCTOBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Taghi … executed in Mashhad on October 1
Surname unknown
OCTOBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Shiraz on October 1
Hamidreza Khodabandeh and 4 unidentified men
SEPTEMBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Bagher Bazgir and Sasan Farzipour executed in Khorramabad on September 30
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ehsan Dehqanipour executed in Borujard on August 29
- SEPTEMBER 27, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Najafi and Bahram … executed in Karaj on September 27
554 executions in 2023
SEPTEMBER 27, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jafar Ghaed executed in Ahar on September 27
SEPTEMBER 27, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men executed in Karaj on September 27
Saman Asgari and Mozafar ... (surname unknown)
SEPTEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Askar Nami executed in Tabriz on September 26
SEPTEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 sentenced to death over bootleg alcohol that killed 17
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Death of Faramarz Javidzad, a Jewish Prisoner with Iranian-American Citizenship
Due to Denied Medical Access in Evin Prison
SEPTEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mostafa Khosh Shaneh and Saeed Brahui Makaki executed in Mashhad
On September 24 and 25
SEPTEMBER 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified prisoner executed in Minab on September 23
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Vali Jabari executed in Isfahan on September 23