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
JANUARY 31, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Allahverdi and Farhang Zakayi executed in Shiraz on January 31
JANUARY 31, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Already 18 Kurds executed since the beginning of the year
JANUARY 31, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men executed in Tabriz on January 31
- JANUARY 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Esmaeil Kachalanlu executed in Mako prison on January 30
- JANUARY 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hasan Javanroudian executed in Karaj on January 30
JANUARY 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Kerman on January 30
Rasul Safarzaei, Obaidullah Safarzaei, Habib Sarani, and ... Behzadi
JANUARY 29, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - US Indicts Three In Iran-Backed Plot To Kill Masih Alinejad
A U.S. journalist of Iranian origin now living in New York
- JANUARY 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Shokripour executed in Karaj on January 26
- JANUARY 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamed Heydari executed in Khalkhal on January 26
58 executions in January
JANUARY 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj on January 26
Reza Shokri, Omid Shokri, Majid Shah Mohammadi and Borjali Karami
- JANUARY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mansour Yusuf Zahi executed in Bandar Abbas on January 25
JANUARY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 18 year-old Protester Shoaib Mir Baluchzehi Rigi sentenced to death
JANUARY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Aghale executed in Qazvin on January 25
JANUARY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kurdish Pregnant Inmate Shahla Abdi Faces
A protester arrested in October
JANUARY 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Kambiz Kharoot, 20, sentenced to death
JANUARY 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 Men executed in Arak on January 24
Omid Azni, Behnam… + Unk
JANUARY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Zalitabar executed in Karaj on January 23
JANUARY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj on January 23
Saman Nabi- Garusi, Abolfazl Baraghani-Nejad, Sabina Esmailzadeh + Unk.
JANUARY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Ebrahim Narouei sentenced to death
JANUARY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The IRGC’s Terrorist Designation Frightens The Regime
JANUARY 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protesters Hasan Firouzi and Mohammad Ekhtiarian Slip Into Coma In Detention
- JANUARY 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Omid Karamali executed in Karaj on January 22
- JANUARY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Death sentence to mentally ill protester
Javad Rouhi, over alleged Qur’an burning
JANUARY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Arshia Takdastan, 18, Sentenced to Death
JANUARY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Jalilvand and Akbar Ahmadi executed in Hamedan on January 19
JANUARY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kamel Doudkanlou and Seyyed Farhad Hosseini executed in Salmas on January 19
JANUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ghodrat Zibarom executed in Ilam on January 18
- JANUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sharaf Khan Akbari + Unk. executed in Karaj on January 18
- JANUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nima Vahidi and Omid Karimi executed in Isfahan on January 18
JANUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - European Parliament passed a resolution that puts the IRGC on the terrorist list