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 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Shabanzadeh executed in Rasht on May 11
MAY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Appointment of Iran to chair the UN Human Rights Council’s 2023 Social Forum
- MAY 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN Four unidentified men executed in Gohardasht on May 10
MAY 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Karaj on May 10
Hossein Panjak, Abdolhossein Emami Moghaddam and Babak Aghayi
MAY 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Between 29 April and 8 May, 118 people were executed in Iran
239 persone dall'inizio dell'anno
MAY 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Arak Prison on May 10
MAY 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Saber Payamian executed in Kermanshah on May 10
MAY 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saber Payamian executed in Kermanshah on May 10
At least 52 Kurdish executed in Iran's prisons since the beginning of this year
- MAY 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Najmedin Eshaghzehi executed in Semnan on May 9
- MAY 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Shiraz on May 8
- MAY 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bahman Zayerfar executed in Ahar on May 8
MAY 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed on May 8: Mohammad Ahmadi, Yaser Rakhshani and Yunus Rigi Rakhshani
25 Baloch prisoners executed in the last 11 days
MAY 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Dezful on May 8
MAY 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Shahrouzi executed in Shiraz on May 8
MAY 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare executed for blasphemy
MAY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran executed Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab
For “terrorism”
MAY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Asghar Samiei and Tahmaseb Kavousi executed in Zanjan on May 6
229 executions since the beginning of the year
MAY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Salahedin Majidi (Dodkanlu) and Abdollah Khan Mohammadi executed in Salmas on May 6
MAY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - EU condemns execution of Iranian-Swedish dissident Habib Chaab
MAY 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Faramarz Shakhsi executed in Urmia on May 5
MAY 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Names of 4 men executed in Khorramabad on May 5
Shakhsi, Mahmoudyar, Hanifi and Teymuri
MAY 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Teimouri executed in Urmia on May 5
- MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Yazd on May 4
Saboor Shah-Bakhsh, Amir Rameshk, Abdolbasir Bazhm + 2 non identified
- MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saeed Saleh and Hossein Amirabadi executed in Gohardasht on May 3
- MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Habibullah Faghir Dadzehi executed in Isfahan on May 4
- MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Edris Gorgij executed in Torbat-e-Jam on May 4
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nour-Ahmad Zavarzahi executed in Mashhad on May 4
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamed Mousavi executed in Ardabil on May 4
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men executed in Qezelhesar prison, in Karaj, on May 4
Mohammad Ali Bani Ebrahimi and Mehdi Farrokhi
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Emamizadeh executed in Khorramabad on May 4