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
- 9,164
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 9,164 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
SEPTEMBER 6, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Peyman Soleimani, Aziz Yarhashemi and Shahram Kakavand executed in Karaj on September 6
SEPTEMBER 5, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 Iranian women sentenced to death for their sexual orientation
Zahra Sedighi Hamedani and Elham Choobdar
SEPTEMBER 3, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Massoud Ghaed-Rahmati executed in Khorramabad on September 3
SEPTEMBER 3, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Qanbarzahi and Ainullah Qanbarzahi executed in Zahedan on September 3
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Ghareh Lar executed in Qom on September 1
25 days after his brother Ali’s execution in the same prison
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamidreza Mardani executed in Isfahan on September 1
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amputated the fingers of Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini
in Gohardasht prison in Karaj on September 1
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Khosravi executed in Qom on September 1
AUGUST 31, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Morteza Teymoori and Mohammad-Hassan Kahrari executed in Arak on August 31
AUGUST 31, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Aref Maleki executed in Shiraz on August 31
AUGUST 31, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Hossein Alizadeh was actually a minor
AUGUST 31, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammed Hossein Kahrari executed in Arak on August 31
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 PENALTY
IRAN - 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