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
OCTOBER 22, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yousef Faraji executed in Aligudarz on October 22
501 executions since the beginning of 2022
OCTOBER 19, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mansour Ghorbani-Bendarati executed in Isfahan on October 19
OCTOBER 19, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Sari on October 19
OCTOBER 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Evin Prison: IHR Calls for Urgent UN Mechanism to Prevent Further Atrocities
OCTOBER 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Karimabadi executed in Hamedan on October 16
- OCTOBER 15, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Qarelu executed in Neyshabur on October 15
- OCTOBER 15, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Amir Jahangiri executed in Qom on October 15
OCTOBER 15, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamed Dehghan Mangabadi executed in Qom, on October 15
- OCTOBER 13, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Mohammad Saeedi and Sadegh Afkendeh executed in Zanjan on October 13
OCTOBER 13, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - At least 201 people killed in nationwide protests
Including 23 minors
OCTOBER 12, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Over 400 children detained during Iran protests
OCTOBER 11, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - More than 26 minors have been killed in the nationwide uprising
- OCTOBER 9, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Names of 202 Martyrs of Uprising
Published by National Council of Resistance of Iran
OCTOBER 9, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - World Day Against the Death Penalty: HRANA Annual Report
Between October 10, 2021, and October 7, 2022, at least 528 executions in Iran
OCTOBER 9, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - World Day Against Death Penalty, extrajudiciary killings in Iran
OCTOBER 8, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran Protests: at Least 185 Killed/19 Children Amongst Dead
OCTOBER 7, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - On the killing of 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh
- OCTOBER 6, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - On the killing of 16 year old Nima Shafiqdoost
OCTOBER 6, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - On the killing of 17-year-old protester Nika Shakarami
OCTOBER 5, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mariano Giustino posted on Twitter the video of an extrajudicial execution
Correspondent from Turkey of Radio Radicale and a good friend of Hands Off Cain
OCTOBER 5, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Names and details of 182 martyrs of freedom movement
OCTOBER 3, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 prisoners executed in Shiraz prison on October 3
Identities not confirmed
- OCTOBER 2, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Iran Protests: Death Toll Rises to 133
40 Killed in Zahedan’s “Bloody Friday”
OCTOBER 2, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Mashhad on October 2
Asif Shibak, Saeed Shibak, Ramadan Mazar Zahi and Awad Bilrani
- OCTOBER 2, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 prisoners executed in Shiraz prison on October 2
Hashim Mahmoodzadeh, Yusuf Ali Chalani, Abbas Fatahalian, Haider Ramezani
SEPTEMBER 29, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Qasem Shah Bakhsh executed in Zahedan on September 29
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Kiomars Parvaneh and Hasan Hojjati executed in Qazvin on September 28
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Morteza Brahui executed in Zahedan on September 28
SEPTEMBER 26, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - At least 76 protesters killed by security forces
On the 11th day of unrest after the killing of the young Masha Amini
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 54 protesters killed by security forces
8th day of protests for Mahsa Amini