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
- 9,155
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 9,155 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
JUNE 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Siamak Lutfi executed in Tabriz on June 20
JUNE 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Seifi executed in Tabriz on June 20
JUNE 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Aref Havasi executed in Ilam on June 20
JUNE 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Al-Nasser and Abbas Khanjari executed in Ahvaz on June 19
JUNE 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Danesh Salari executed in Kahnuj on June 19
380 executions since the beginning of the year
JUNE 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Samadi executed in Saveh on June 19
JUNE 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Kerman on June 18
Mohammad Sepahi, Fazl Ahmad Ghafran, Gholam Mir + Unk
JUNE 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in public on June 18
In Deylam
JUNE 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mula Shamsi executed on June 18 in Zanjan
JUNE 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamed … executed in Gorgan on June 18
JUNE 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Fazl Ahmad Ghafran (Rukhshani) executed in Kerman on June 18
JUNE 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mahmoud Rakhshani executed in Zahedan on June 17
JUNE 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Brar Kazemi executed in Shiraz on June 17
JUNE 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Man (not identified) sentenced to death for killing MP
JUNE 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hasan Ali Hasanpour executed in Gachsaran on June 14
JUNE 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Milad Qobadi executed in Yasuj on June 14
JUNE 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Gohardasht on June 13
Vahid Dinpajuh, Hamedi Ahmadi + 2 Unk
- JUNE 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamid… executed in Gohardasht on June 13
JUNE 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Al-Naser executed in Ahvaz on June 12
361 executions since the beginning of the year
JUNE 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Pourkhosravani executed in Sirjan on June 12
JUNE 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran Hands Over Scores Of Afghan Prisoners To Taliban
JUNE 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Amani-Nejad and Hamed Yavari executed in Hamedan on June 11
JUNE 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Gomshadzehi executed in Kerman on June 11
JUNE 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Daryush Rahimi executed in Mashhad on June 11
In prison, not in public as the sentence said
JUNE 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Haidar Chishti + Unk executed in Torbat-e-Jam on June 11
JUNE 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Shahcheraghi and Taher Nouri executed in Shiraz on June 11
JUNE 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeid Nasiri and Masoud Sasani executed in Karaj on June 10
JUNE 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Urmia on June 9
Jafar Mohammadpour, Ghobad Farhadi + Unk
JUNE 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Houshang Amirzadeh executed in Qazvin on June 8
JUNE 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Doust Barahouyi executed in Zahedan on June 8