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
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jailed Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mohammadi Taken to Hospital – Without Hijab
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Bandar Abbas on November 8
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khodadad Rahimi and Saber Alikhani executed in Kashan on November 8
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amin Khorshidi executed in Urmia on November 8
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahram Ali Abbasi executed in Gorgan on November 8
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unnamed man executed in Kerman on November 8
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 9 prisoners executed in Karaj on November 8
Rasul Taimuri, Hossein Hawasi, Bahman Fethullahzadeh + 6 Unk
NOVEMBER 7, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Partowi executed in Kermanshah on November 7
- NOVEMBER 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamed Barahouyi executed in Isfahan on November 6
- NOVEMBER 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - On November 6, Narges Mohammadi, detained at Evin Prison, commenced a hunger strike
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent political prisoner
NOVEMBER 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - More than 200 Experts Urge United Nations to Protest Iran’s Chairing of UNHRC Social Forum
NOVEMBER 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Akbar Farokhi executed in Urmia on November 8
NOVEMBER 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ghasem Abasteh, a Kurdish-Sunni political prisoner, executed in Ghezel Hesar on November 5
NOVEMBER 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saied Alizehi and Esmaiel Alizehi executed in Zahedan on November 4
Two Baloch brothers
NOVEMBER 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jamshid Sharmahd in Critical Health Condition
A German-Iranian man living in the USA
NOVEMBER 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Isfahan on November 2
Ebrahim Naroi (Narui, Narooie), Nasir Karimi, and Ali Hadi + Unk
- NOVEMBER 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 women and a man sentenced to death for adultery
Leila Khalghi Sakachayi, Mitra … and Abolfazl Barat Vakili
NOVEMBER 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Golmohammadi executed in Arak on November 2
NOVEMBER 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Dissident Iranian Composer Receives UN Award for “Courageous” Work
Mehdi Rajabian
NOVEMBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sadegh Tajik and Yadollah Farrokhi executed in Karaj on November 1
NOVEMBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Maryam Foroughmanesh, a woman, executed in Yasuj on November 1.
15th woman execution recorded in 2023 in Iran
- NOVEMBER 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN 6 men executed in Karaj on November 1
Ehsan Haddad, Abbas Anarki, Kuchak Behrouz, Mohsen Abbasi, Yadalollah Farrokhi and Sadegh Tajik.
- OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamid Takavar executed in Karaj on October 30
OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalal Vahdati and Khalil Mohammadi executed in Khorramabad on October 30
OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalil Nutizehi executed in Isfahan on October 30
648 executions so far in 2023
OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed on October 30
At an unspecified prison in Golestan province
OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Heydar Salkhord, Shahab Sadeghzadeh, and Mansour Taqvaei executed in Shiraz on October 30
OCTOBER 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 87 executions in October
OCTOBER 29, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Armita Garavand was buried amid tight security in Tehran on October 29
Nasrin Sotoudeh was beaten and arrested at the funeral
OCTOBER 29, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shamsollah Banani executed in Ahar on October 29