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
JANUARY 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 Men executed in Arak on January 24
Omid Azni, Behnam… + Unk
JANUARY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Zalitabar executed in Karaj on January 23
JANUARY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj on January 23
Saman Nabi- Garusi, Abolfazl Baraghani-Nejad, Sabina Esmailzadeh + Unk.
JANUARY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Ebrahim Narouei sentenced to death
JANUARY 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The IRGC’s Terrorist Designation Frightens The Regime
JANUARY 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protesters Hasan Firouzi and Mohammad Ekhtiarian Slip Into Coma In Detention
JANUARY 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Omid Karamali executed in Karaj on January 22
JANUARY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Arshia Takdastan, 18, Sentenced to Death
JANUARY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Jalilvand and Akbar Ahmadi executed in Hamedan on January 19
JANUARY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kamel Doudkanlou and Seyyed Farhad Hosseini executed in Salmas on January 19
JANUARY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentence to mentally ill protester
Javad Rouhi, over alleged Qur’an burning
JANUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ghodrat Zibarom executed in Ilam on January 18
JANUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sharaf Khan Akbari + Unk. executed in Karaj on January 18
JANUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nima Vahidi and Omid Karimi executed in Isfahan on January 18
JANUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - European Parliament passed a resolution that puts the IRGC on the terrorist list
JANUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Akbar Sheikh Panahi executed in Isfahan on January 18, 2023
JANUARY 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kamel Dodkanlou and Farhad Hosseini executed in Salmas on January 17
JANUARY 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Massoud Tahmasebi executed in Bandar Abbas on January 17
The news published on March 13
JANUARY 14, 2023United KingdomDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran has executed British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari
Accused of spying for Great Britain
JANUARY 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 74 women killed during nationwide uprising of women
- JANUARY 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Akbar Shah Bakhsh executed in Zahedan on January 14
Already 31 executions in the first 2 weeks of the year
JANUARY 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran executions: the role of the ‘revolutionary courts’ in breaching human rights
JANUARY 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Maher Eyluli and Ali Abbaszadeh executed in Shiraz on January 12
- JANUARY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 of the 5 men executed in Arak on January 11 have been identified
Ali Geravand, Azad Dadvand, Kaiwan Amini Tawakol
- JANUARY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Haji executed in Karaj on January 11
- JANUARY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 inmates executed in Arak Prison on January 11
Ali Geravand + 4 unknown
JANUARY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - UK. British-Iranian Alireza Akbari at risk of imminent execution
JANUARY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Two Inmates Executed in Rasht and Gorgan on January 11
Milad Ashoob and Shahram Mortazavi
JANUARY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Milad Gholizadeh executed in Rasht on January 11
JANUARY 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran sentences Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani to a five-year prison term
The daughter of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani