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
- 9,141
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 9,141 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
FEBRUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammadshah Rashidi and Ali Davtalab executed at Gezel Hesar on February 10
FEBRUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 107th Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 20 men executed on February 8 and 9
FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahla Dowlatabadi, a woman, executed in Kerman on February 9
6th woman executed this year
FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on Day 44 of Protests: 6,964 confirmed deaths, 11,730 under review
Student Gatherings, Warning from the Head of the Judiciary, and the Continuation of Arrests
FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Victim Accounts: Milad Mianekhah Monfardi
Protester Whose Killing Authorities Falsely Attributed to Drugs
- FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 19 more executions on February 9
10 have already been reported. That makes a total of 29.
FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mojtaba Amini executed in Neyshabur on February 9
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN- Victim Accounts: Habib Khoobipour, a 47-year-old civil activist killed by live ammunition
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on Day 43 of the Protests: 6,961 confirmed fatalities, 11,730 under review
- FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Ghezel Hesar
Ahmad Heydari, Farhad Heydari, Saeed Malekian, Amirhossein Mayeli, Ahmad Farhad Heydari
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Narges Mohammadi sentenced to seven and a half years
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and civil rights activist
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Firouz Mohammadi Executed in Khorramabad on February 8
- FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 9 men executed
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alarm over systematic sexual torture and summary courts against protesters
- FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 13 men executed on February 7
Ali Faza Khoshneshin, Farshad Sheikhi, Avin Sorkhi, Jafar Faryadi, Ali Sarlakabad, Sosha Moradi, Behzad Mashayekhi, Mohammad Ali Saeedloo, Morad Goli, Abolfazl Naqvi + 3
FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 100.000 Iranian exiles demonstrated in Berlin
FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mirdar executed in Gorgan on February 7
FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Babak Amraei and Mohammadghasem Amraei executed in Khorramabad on February 7
FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Victim Accounts: Why Mahsa Dezfulian’s Family Kept Her Body at Home Overnight
FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on Day 42 of the Protests: 6,961 confirmed deaths, 11,630 under review
FEBRUARY 6, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Naser Bekrzadeh Sentenced to Death for the Third Time
On charges of “espionage for Israel"
FEBRUARY 6, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on Day 41 of the Protests: 6,955 confirmed deaths, 11,630 under review
FEBRUARY 6, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Victim Accounts: Milad Gholami, Protester Whose Body Was Found After One Week
FEBRUARY 5, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - First physical archive of the 2026 massacre presented at a Brussels exhibition
By Hengaw and Mala Kurdî
FEBRUARY 5, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN Day 40 of the Protests: 6,941 confirmed deaths, 11,630 under review
Domestic Reactions, Continued Arrests, and Forced Confessions
FEBRUARY 4, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Day 39 of the Nationwide Protests: 6,883 confirmed deaths, 11,280 under investigation
A Lawmaker’s Remarks on the Suppression of Protests
FEBRUARY 4, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran HRM Report on 153 minors killed
Extrajudicial Killing during the January 2026 Uprising
- FEBRUARY 4, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 6 people executed in recent days
Iraj Mostafavi, Bakhtiar Shahabi, Hassan Alaeibakhsh, Ali Mohammadpour, Mohammad Javad Namdari, Hashem Abbas
FEBRUARY 4, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Seven Gurji ethnic people killed in protests identified
Hananeh Azizi, Mohammad Hassan Ashrafi, Masoud Youseyliani, Mohammad Sepiani, Esmail Aslani, Javad Heydari, Reza Karimi