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
- FEBRUARY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Moslem Moradi executed in Sanandaj on February 20
FEBRUARY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Abyat executed in Ahvaz on February 20
FEBRUARY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - UK sanctions Iranian judges, commanders and regional governors
FEBRUARY 20, 2023GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jamshid Sharmahd sentenced to death
Iranian-German dissident kidnapped from the UAE
FEBRUARY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza and Safar Mohammadpour executed in Torbat Jam on on February 20
Two Baluch brothers
- FEBRUARY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Two protesters sentenced to death
Mansour and Nizamaldin Hut (Hoot)
- FEBRUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Terror Threats Force Persian TV Channel
- FEBRUARY 16, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nijomi Moradi executed in Urmia on February 16
FEBRUARY 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men (unidentified) executed in Gohardasht on February 15
FEBRUARY 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Parviz Frotani executed in Neyshabur on February 15
- FEBRUARY 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Milad Jajuyi Khanik and Mohammad Ali Akhtari Kahlan executed in Urmia on February 14
- FEBRUARY 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 prisoners were executed in Karaj on February 14
- FEBRUARY 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 6 Arab Political Prisoners Handed Capital Punishment On February 14
Ali Majdam, Moein Khanfari, Mohammadreza Moghadam, Seyed Salem Mousavi, Seyed Adnan Mousavi and Habib Darees
FEBRUARY 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Arak on February 14
Mostafa Majnouni + 2 unidentified
FEBRUARY 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Teyran executed in Urmia on February 14
- FEBRUARY 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Behzad Alirezaei and Ahmad Samari executed in Qazvin on February 13
FEBRUARY 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Rasulof released
Award-winning filmmaker, arrested six months ago
FEBRUARY 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sirous Gholami executed in Gorgan on February 12
FEBRUARY 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farhad Meysami Released From Prison on February 10
Iranian Activist on Hunger-Strike
- FEBRUARY 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Clemency for "thousands of convicts"
But not for protesters
FEBRUARY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Benjamin Briere, a French national held in Iran, on hunger strike
FEBRUARY 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Hojjat Qoli executed in Zanjan on February 5
FEBRUARY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Names and details of 632 martyrs of freedom movement
- FEBRUARY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Islamic Republic Systematically Targeted Protester Eyes
FEBRUARY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jafar Panahi released on bail
FEBRUARY 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Film director Jafar Panahi on a hunger strike in Evin Prison
- FEBRUARY 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shocking Photos Of Hunger-Striking Political Prisoner Farhad Meysami
- FEBRUARY 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmad Zali Tabar and Omid Ali Kohi executed in Karaj last week
- FEBRUARY 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unnamed man executed on February 1 in Gohardasht
- FEBRUARY 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehdi Rasi Azar executed in Gohardasht on February 1