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
- FEBRUARY 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Behzad Alirezaei and Ahmad Samari executed in Qazvin on February 13
FEBRUARY 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Rasulof released
Award-winning filmmaker, arrested six months ago
FEBRUARY 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sirous Gholami executed in Gorgan on February 12
FEBRUARY 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farhad Meysami Released From Prison on February 10
Iranian Activist on Hunger-Strike
- FEBRUARY 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Clemency for "thousands of convicts"
But not for protesters
FEBRUARY 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Benjamin Briere, a French national held in Iran, on hunger strike
FEBRUARY 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Hojjat Qoli executed in Zanjan on February 5
FEBRUARY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Names and details of 632 martyrs of freedom movement
FEBRUARY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jafar Panahi released on bail
FEBRUARY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Islamic Republic Systematically Targeted Protester Eyes
FEBRUARY 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Film director Jafar Panahi on a hunger strike in Evin Prison
- FEBRUARY 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shocking Photos Of Hunger-Striking Political Prisoner Farhad Meysami
FEBRUARY 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unnamed man executed on February 1 in Gohardasht
FEBRUARY 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Zali Tabar and Omid Ali Kohi executed in Karaj last week
- FEBRUARY 1, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehdi Rasi Azar executed in Gohardasht on February 1
JANUARY 31, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Allahverdi and Farhang Zakayi executed in Shiraz on January 31
JANUARY 31, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Already 18 Kurds executed since the beginning of the year
- JANUARY 31, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 men executed in Tabriz on January 31
- JANUARY 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Kerman on January 30
Rasul Safarzaei, Obaidullah Safarzaei, Habib Sarani, and ... Behzadi
JANUARY 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hasan Javanroudian executed in Karaj on January 30
JANUARY 30, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Esmaeil Kachalanlu executed in Mako prison on January 30
JANUARY 29, 2023United StatesDEATH PENALTYIRAN - US Indicts Three In Iran-Backed Plot To Kill Masih Alinejad
A U.S. journalist of Iranian origin now living in New York
- JANUARY 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Shokripour executed in Karaj on January 26
- JANUARY 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamed Heydari executed in Khalkhal on January 26
58 executions in January
JANUARY 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj on January 26
Reza Shokri, Omid Shokri, Majid Shah Mohammadi and Borjali Karami
JANUARY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 18 year-old Protester Shoaib Mir Baluchzehi Rigi sentenced to death
JANUARY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Aghale executed in Qazvin on January 25
JANUARY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kurdish Pregnant Inmate Shahla Abdi Faces
A protester arrested in October
JANUARY 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mansour Yusuf Zahi executed in Bandar Abbas on January 25
JANUARY 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Kambiz Kharoot, 20, sentenced to death