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
- MAY 25, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 8 men executed in Rajai Shahr Prison on May 25
Karim Bagheri, the football player, saved 2 men
- MAY 25, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - R.A. executed on May 25
Location of the execution not specified
- MAY 24, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Wife of Djalali pleads for EU action
Vida Mehrannia
MAY 24, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Gorgan Prison on 24 May 2022
Mostafa Hamidzadeh, Houshang Bagheri Alimorad (surname unknown) and Nasser Moghadam
- MAY 23, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Sorkhrou and Abbas Kamali executed in Minab on May 23
- MAY 23, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mossadegh Malahi executed in Minab on May 23
- MAY 23, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified woman executed on 23 May in Amol prison
135th since September 2013
MAY 23, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Zanjan on May 23
- MAY 22, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abdolbari Rigi, and Ms Hayati, a woman, executed in Shiraz on May 22
- MAY 22, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Morad Fazeli executed in Shirvan Prison on May 22
- MAY 22, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Elias Q. executed in Mashhad Prison on May 22
176 executions since the beginning of the year
- MAY 21, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Esmail Shahbakhsh executed in Zahedan on May 21
- MAY 21, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Report of the National Council of Resistance of Iran on the prison situation
MAY 21, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The wife of Ahmadreza Djalali called on the European Union to intervene
MAY 21, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdollah Barahouyi executed in Zahedan on May 21
- MAY 19, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmad Gashoul executed in Isfahan on May 19
- MAY 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ayat Ghasemi-Delfani executed in Karaj on May 18
- MAY 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farshad Nematzadeh, Mehdi Shirchian and Eshaghi executed in Amol on May 18
MAY 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Fardin Kaleh Houyi executed in Kermanshah on May 18
The news was released on June 21 by Hengaw
- MAY 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khalil Rezaeipour executed in Qom on May 17
- MAY 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ghobad Khodakarami executed in Khorramabad on May 17
- MAY 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for Djalali
MAY 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ghobad Narouyi executed in Birjand on May 17
- MAY 15, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehrab Salehi executed in Yazd on May 15
Probably a juvenile at the time of the alleged crime
- MAY 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farshad Gamshadzehi, Esmail Jahantigh and Mansour Barahouyi executed in Zahedan on May 14
Farshad Gamshadzehi may have been a juvenile offender
MAY 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Bameri executed in Iranshahr on May 14
The man was unable to pay the €23.000 diya (reparation)
MAY 12, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Fartash executed in Isfahan on May 12
143 executions in 2022
MAY 11, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mostafa Kh. executed in Mashhad on May 11
- MAY 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unnamed man executed in Sabzevar Prison on May 10
138 executions in 2022
- MAY 10, 2022BelgiumDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Belgian Court of Appeals’ Sentence on Bomb Plot at Iranian Resistance Rally in Paris