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 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran executed Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab
For “terrorism”
MAY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Asghar Samiei and Tahmaseb Kavousi executed in Zanjan on May 6
229 executions since the beginning of the year
MAY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Salahedin Majidi (Dodkanlu) and Abdollah Khan Mohammadi executed in Salmas on May 6
MAY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - EU condemns execution of Iranian-Swedish dissident Habib Chaab
MAY 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Faramarz Shakhsi executed in Urmia on May 5
MAY 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Names of 4 men executed in Khorramabad on May 5
Shakhsi, Mahmoudyar, Hanifi and Teymuri
MAY 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Teimouri executed in Urmia on May 5
- MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Habibullah Faghir Dadzehi executed in Isfahan on May 4
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nour-Ahmad Zavarzahi executed in Mashhad on May 4
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamed Mousavi executed in Ardabil on May 4
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men executed in Qezelhesar prison, in Karaj, on May 4
Mohammad Ali Bani Ebrahimi and Mehdi Farrokhi
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Emamizadeh executed in Khorramabad on May 4
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalaladdin Rahimian-Azar executed in Rasht on May 4
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 unidentified men executed in Rasht on May 4
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Edris Gorgij executed in Torbat-e-Jam on May 4
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Yazd on May 4
Saboor Shah-Bakhsh, Amir Rameshk, Abdolbasir Bazhm + 2 non identified
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Saleh and Hossein Amirabadi executed in Gohardasht on May 3
MAY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahin Firouzkouhi and Ali Daftari executed in Qazvin on May 3
MAY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Zarei and Lal Mohammad Shirzayi Barahouyi executed in Minab on May 3
MAY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hanif Khosravi executed in Neishabur on May 3
MAY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Names ot 2 of the 3 unidentified men executed in Gohardasht on May 3
Sirous ... and Behzad ...
MAY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolhossein Emamizadeh executed on May 3 in Gohardasht
MAY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Rajai Shahr prison on May 3
Not identified
MAY 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Malek Dadzahi executed in Mashhad on May 2
MAY 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mousa and Ehsan Gorgij executed in Bandarabbas on May 2
MAY 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Aminollah Karimi Ghaljayi executed in Mashhad on May 1
MAY 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Vahedi Rigi executed in Mashhad on May 1
- APRIL 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Feizollah Kavandi executed in Isfahan on April 30
APRIL 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jaber Aminifar executed in Birjand on April 30
APRIL 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman, 2 men executed in Birjand on April 30
Mrs. Madina Sabzevan, Mohammad Shibak, Abdullah Zarouzhi