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
MARCH 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Over 100 individuals arrested for school gas attacks
MARCH 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Supreme court has upheld the death sentence of Habib Farajollah Chaab
MARCH 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men executed in Shiraz on March 12
Tohid Ramezani, Nabi Langrani
MARCH 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mekhan Seyfi executed in Kermanshah on March 12
158 executions since the beginning of the year
MARCH 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Salman Momeni executed in Arak on March 12
MARCH 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Khorramabad on March 11
Zafar Hadipour, Nader Ebrahimpour, Younes Koulemrazi + Unk.
MARCH 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Urmia on March 10
Sardar Jalalifar, Saleh Ghassemi, Mansour Abdizadeh + Unk
MARCH 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Pourfayaz executed in Urmia on March 10
- MARCH 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmad Bajizehi executed in Shiraz on March 10
MARCH 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalal Sardari Far executed in Urmia on March 9
MARCH 7, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Meisham Bahram and Shah Bakhsh (Mahmoud) Ostadi executed in Bandar Abbas on March 7
144 executions since the beginning of the year
MARCH 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Bandar Abbas on March 6
Hamid Shahouzahi, Bahram Behzadi and Mohammad Amin Javashiri
MARCH 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Four men executed in Khorramabad on March 6
Ayat Aliari, Sohrab Sourilaki, Hassan Joudaki and … Akram
MARCH 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentences for 6 Men Over Attacks In Southwest
Ali Mojadam, Mohammad Reza Moghadam, Moein Khanfari, Habib Deris, Adnan Ghobishavi and Salem Mousavi.
MARCH 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Supreme leader Khamenei orders punishment for schoolgirl poisoning
MARCH 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kiumars Zarghami executed in Saqqez on March 5
MARCH 3, 2023BelgiumDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Belgium’s Top Court Issues Decree To Swap Iranian Diplomat
Assadi and Vandecasteele
MARCH 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ghorban Ghorbanpour executed in Rasht on March 2
MARCH 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - At least 102 executions in the first two months of 2023
According to Hengaw. HoC counts at least 123 executions.
MARCH 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on March 1
Mansour Saeedi, Asghar Khosh Sima and Abbas Homavar
- MARCH 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Doudkanlu executed in Urmia on March 1
122 executions since the beginning of the year
MARCH 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Dosti Nejad executed in Hamadan on March 1
- FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 men executed in Karaj on February 28
FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 man executed in Hamedan on February 28
Unidentified
- FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Milan executed in Urmia on February 28
FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Kermanshah on February 28
Kayumars Sadqpour + 2 unk
FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khosro Mohammadi executed in Zahedan on February 28
FEBRUARY 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Maziar Soltanzadeh and Mohammad Safari executed in Karaj on February 28
FEBRUARY 27, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Arbabi and Mohammed Ishaq Gergij executed in Zahedan on February 27
112 executions since the beginning of the year
FEBRUARY 27, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Leila Bameri executed in Bandar Abbas on February 27
208 women since 2007