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
- 8,610
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 8,610 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
- DECEMBER 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN UN removes Iran from women's rights body
UNCSW, over protest crackdown
DECEMBER 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Five unidentified men executed in Rajai-Shahr Prison on December 14
DECEMBER 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Khoshbakht and Hamed Nobakht executed in Hamadan on December 14
DECEMBER 13, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Five Protestors Awaiting Execution in Karaj
Mohammad-Mehdi Karami, Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, Hamid Ghara-Hasanlu and Hossein Mohammadi
- DECEMBER 12, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Asghar Alizadeh and Ebrahim Broujerdi executed in Khorramabad on December 12
- DECEMBER 12, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abbas Hosseini and Ali Seyyedkhani executed in Qazvin on December 12
DECEMBER 12, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Narouei executed in Shiraz on December 12
DECEMBER 12, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Isa Narouei executed in Zahedan on December 12
DECEMBER 12, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Arak on December 12
Mohammad Imani, Ehsan Naseri, Mostafa Kashi + 2 unk
DECEMBER 12, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Payam Nourollahi Executed in Gorgan on December 12
604 executions since the beginning of the year
DECEMBER 11, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Ghasemizadeh executed in Taybad on December 11
- DECEMBER 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 Baloch prisoners executed on December 10
Ehsan Bakhtiari, Mostafa Qavi Panjeh, Muslim … and Abdul Wase Brahui
- DECEMBER 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Iran supreme leader’s niece sentenced to 3 years for supporting protests
Farideh Moradkhani
DECEMBER 9, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saman Yasin, the rapper, sentenced to death.
DECEMBER 9, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN- Iran Human Rights Monitor Annual Report 2022
DECEMBER 8, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Ghara-Hasanlu, a doctor, sentenced to death in protests
DECEMBER 8, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Mohsen Shekari executed this morning
DECEMBER 8, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shayan Hassanpour (Hassanzadeh) executed in Maku on December 8
DECEMBER 7, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - At least 458 people killed in the ongoing nationwide protests
Including 63 children and 29 women
DECEMBER 7, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Qom on December 7
586 executions since the beginning of 2022
- DECEMBER 7, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Baratali Sheikhalizadeh executed in Karaj on December 7
DECEMBER 5, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nasser Omarzahi and Alireza Naroouie executed in Zahedan on December 5
- DECEMBER 5, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Death sentences for protesters
DECEMBER 4, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Four men executed for 'intelligence cooperation' with Israel
DECEMBER 4, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Heydar Hassani Maram executed in Yasui on December 4
DECEMBER 4, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gholam Rasoul Mazarzehi and Anoushirvan Omarzehi executed in Zahedan on December 4
DECEMBER 3, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Woman, Mouloud Molazadeh, executed in Isfahan on December 3
DECEMBER 3, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Zakaria Rigi and Hojjat Saif Panah executed in Shiraz on December 3
- DECEMBER 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Majid Mehdipour and Massoud Efati executed in Rasht on December 1
DECEMBER 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amanullah Rakhshani executed in Sabzevar on December 1
565 executions since the beginning of the year