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
AUGUST 31, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Hossein Alizadeh was actually a minor
AUGUST 28, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Esmail Bargrizan executed in Bandar Abbas on August 28
AUGUST 28, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Sabki executed in Bandar Abbas on August 28
AUGUST 28, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 executions in Adel Abad prison in Shiraz on August 28
Rahim Qanbarzahi (Ghanbarzehi) and Mujtabi Khadmini Nejad (Khademinejad)
AUGUST 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gholamreza Kazemi e Reza Zahmati giustiziati a Zabol il 27 agosto
AUGUST 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Omid Ali Garavand executed in Khorramabad on August 27
413 esecuzioni in Iran dall'inizio dell'anno
AUGUST 26, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in a Tehran prison
AUGUST 25, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abbas Saroni executed in the last days of August in Gonbad-e Kavus
AUGUST 24, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - On August 24 five men executed in Rajai Shahr Prison
AUGUST 23, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Karami executed in Neishabur Prison on August 23
AUGUST 23, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men and 1 woman executed in Shiraz on August 22
141st woman executed in Iran since summer of 2013
AUGUST 22, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolfazl Sharifi executed in Qazvin on August 22
AUGUST 22, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Kamali executed in Dastgerd prison on 22 August
- AUGUST 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Moein Atashbar executed in Saravan on August 20
AUGUST 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nader Brahui executed in Iranshahr on August 20
AUGUST 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Zahedan on August 20
One, Omid Alizahi, was a juvenile offender
AUGUST 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Piri executed in Zabol on August 20
AUGUST 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Yazd on August 18
Saeed Kashani, Khodarahm Narouyi, Hamid Narouyi, Seyed Abbas Mousavi and Amir Ali Shahiki
AUGUST 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 11 prisoners executed in Arak prison
On August 14, 17, and 18, 2022
- AUGUST 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Yazd on August 18
Amir Shahiki, Abbas Mousavi, Hamid Narooie, Khodarahm Narooie, and Saeed Kashani
AUGUST 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohiyedin Damani executed in Birjand on August 17
- AUGUST 15, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Misagh Yavari executed in Khorramabad on August 15
AUGUST 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Rahmani and Mostafa Rasoulzadeh executed in Shiraz on August 14
AUGUST 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran Saeed Narouyi xecuted in Sari on August 14
AUGUST 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 inmates executed in Arak Prison on August 14
Mohammad Mashhadolkoobeh, Vahid Mousakhani, Hossein Abadi and 1 unknown
AUGUST 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Alizadeh executed in Qom on August 10
AUGUST 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Bagherpour-Sarabi e Milad Badarkhani executed in Saveh on August 10
AUGUST 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Probable Juvenile Offender executed in Qom on August 10
Mohammad Hossein Alizadeh
AUGUST 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 inmates executed in Arak on August 10, 2022
One of the inmates identified as Mehdi Noor-Karami
AUGUST 6, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Ghareh Lar and Mojtaba Ramin executed in Qom
On August 1 and 6