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
OCTOBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Teenage Armita Garavand (Geravand) Dies In Hospital
OCTOBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Davood Behzadi executed in Esfarayen on October 28
672 executions in Iran in 2023
OCTOBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amir Hossein Dashtban executed in Tabriz on October 26
OCTOBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Birjand on October 26
Abdolbasir Mohammadani (Rend), Mohammad Nabi Shahuzehi (Lojei), Mohammad Mirshah, Reza Shahraki and Omid Javini
OCTOBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A man executed in "one of Tehran's prisons"
Over the past days
OCTOBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hayatollah Eiduzehi executed in Kerman on October 25
OCTOBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalil Seyed Rezaei executed in Qazvin on October 25
OCTOBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Karaj on October 25
- OCTOBER 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Karaj on October 24
628 executions in Iran in 2023
OCTOBER 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Man executed in Khoy on October 24
Identified only as A.M.
OCTOBER 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on October 23
Asghar Jafari, Majid Mousayi and Ali Kheirbin
OCTOBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Armita Garavand's Family Implicitly Confirms Brain Death
OCTOBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khosro Naghiani executed in Karaj on October 22
- OCTOBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Davoud Heidari executed in Karaj on October 22
- OCTOBER 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 men executed in Zahedan on October 21
Zaher Narouyi (Naroui) (Shirzehi) + Unk
OCTOBER 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman and 1 man executed in Isfahan on October 21
Davoud Jalali and an unidentified woman
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Kakavand and Fathollah Rashnu executed in Khorramabad on October 19
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Rashidi Garavand executed in Aligudarz on October 19
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad-Ali Vahidi executed in Gonbad-e Kavus on October 19
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The EU parliament has awarded its prestigious Sakharov Prize to Mahsa Amini
And to the "Women, Life, Freedom" protest movement
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Arman Rezazadeh executed in Rasht on October 19
- OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamed Heidari executed in Rasht on October 19
OCTOBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Ali Dil Baluch executed in Birjand on October 19
OCTOBER 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - At least 10 men were executed in Karaj on October 18
Hojat Beg Rezaei, Shahab Shahbazi, Mohammad Behzadi + 7 Unk
- OCTOBER 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khodabakhsh … executed in Zahedan on October 18
OCTOBER 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nazem Abayi and Baluch Ali Barzang executed in Isfahan on October 17
- OCTOBER 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - … Ketabi executed in Rasht on October 17
OCTOBER 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Khorramabad on October 17
Sajad Moradi, Yaser Golzardian + Unk.
OCTOBER 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nader Karami executed in Gorgan on October 17
OCTOBER 16, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentence for political prisoner Naeb Askari