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
- 9,162
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 9,162 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
MAY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Salari and Mohammad Daraei executed in Jiroft on May 25
MAY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amir Mahdi executed in public on May 25
MAY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Piri executed in Urmia on May 25
314 executions since the beginning of the year
MAY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Kerman on May 25
Ali Shahriari, Ghaderbakhsh Dehani, Abdolrasould Jamishidi, Ali Salari
MAY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 6 men executed in Kerman on May 25
Nader Kalbali, Abdorasoul Jamshidi + 4 Unk
MAY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Mohammadi Far executed in Sanandaj on May 25
MAY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men, partially identified, executed in Rasht on May 25
Mohammad and Hamidreza
MAY 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The death sentence of protester Mohammad Ghobadloo has been upheld
MAY 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nader Alizahi executed in Kerman on May 24
MAY 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Parviz Javadi executed in Zanjan on May 24
MAY 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mohammad Zera’at and Esmaiel Nasiri executed in Shiraz on May 24
Hrana learned on June 2
MAY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Court Overturns Death Sentence of Protestor Javad Rouhi
MAY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Mohammadi executed in Kermanshah on May 23
MAY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Bandar Abbas on May 23
MAY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - … Bazi executed in Gorgan on May 23
(first name unknown)
MAY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Majid Sharifi and Ali Tabib executed in Isfahan on May 23
MAY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Maysam Sadri executed in Zanjan on May 23
MAY 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Grave of Zhina Mahsa Amini vandalised in Saqqez
MAY 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A prisoner named Milad Bahmanzadeh died of heart attack before his execution
MAY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Karaj on May 20
Saeed Garavand, Samad Garavand, and Shahab Mansourinesb Garavand
MAY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Asif Shahbakhsh executed in Zahedan on May 20
295 executions since the beginning of the year
MAY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shaban Yousefi executed in Gohardasht on May 20
MAY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahrooz Sokhanvari executed in Gohardasht on May 20
MAY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 more execution in Ghezel-Hesar on May 20
Shahram Sharqi
- MAY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Isfahan on May 19
Yaghoub Hassani, Mazhar Davari, Ali Mehrdel, Kazem Ghofrankhah
MAY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi executed in Isfahan on 19 May
Accused of a 'political' crime
- MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mustafa Salehi executed in Sanandaj on May 18
MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jamshid Kaimi executed in Sanandaj on May 18
MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Kerman on May 18
Hossein Poursheikh, Omid Jan Abadi, Nabiollah Zaboli + Unk
- MAY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Cousins Mostafa and Farhad Vafayi executed in Rasht on May 18