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
MARCH 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kiumars Zarghami executed in Saqqez on March 5
- MARCH 3, 2023BelgiumDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Belgium’s Top Court Issues Decree To Swap Iranian Diplomat
Assadi and Vandecasteele
MARCH 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ghorban Ghorbanpour executed in Rasht on March 2
MARCH 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - At least 102 executions in the first two months of 2023
According to Hengaw. HoC counts at least 123 executions.
MARCH 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on March 1
Mansour Saeedi, Asghar Khosh Sima and Abbas Homavar
MARCH 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Doudkanlu executed in Urmia on March 1
122 executions since the beginning of the year
MARCH 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Dosti Nejad executed in Hamadan on March 1
- FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 men executed in Karaj on February 28
FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 man executed in Hamedan on February 28
Unidentified
- FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Milan executed in Urmia on February 28
FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Kermanshah on February 28
Kayumars Sadqpour + 2 unk
FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khosro Mohammadi executed in Zahedan on February 28
FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Maziar Soltanzadeh and Mohammad Safari executed in Karaj on February 28
FEBRUARY 27, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Arbabi and Mohammed Ishaq Gergij executed in Zahedan on February 27
112 executions since the beginning of the year
FEBRUARY 27, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Leila Bameri executed in Bandar Abbas on February 27
208 women since 2007
FEBRUARY 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Rahimi executed in Sanandaj on February 26
FEBRUARY 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men and 2 women executed in Birjand on February 26
Abdolhamid Sheh Bakhsh, Ali Fanoodie + 3 unk.
FEBRUARY 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Arak on February 26
Unidentified
FEBRUARY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - EU condemns Iran over death penalty for Jamshid Sharmahd
FEBRUARY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Abbasi and Ali Rezaei executed in Rasht on February 23
FEBRUARY 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sarkawt Ahmadi executed in Kermashan on February 22
Political prisoner
FEBRUARY 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 women executed in Karaj
Fariba Hosseini and Nazifeh …
FEBRUARY 22, 2023GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Germany is expelling two diplomats from the Iranian embassy in Berlin
over the death sentence of Jamshid Sharmahd
FEBRUARY 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Rasul Cholaki executed in Ilam on February 22
FEBRUARY 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Armin Hirani executed in Kermanshah on February 22
Hengaw has been informed on March 11
- FEBRUARY 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - EU To Include Iranian Judges On Sanctions List
FEBRUARY 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - German Foreign Minister: Iran's Revolutionary Guards Not Terrorist Entity
FEBRUARY 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Davood Rakjan executed in Birjand on February 21
(aka Haj Nabi Kharkoohi)
FEBRUARY 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Urmia on February 21
- FEBRUARY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Iran Rewards Hadi Matar, Salman Rushdie Attacker