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
FEBRUARY 3, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Najibullah Gorgij executed in Mashhad on February 3
FEBRUARY 3, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hafizaullah Barahooye executed in Zahedan on February 3
FEBRUARY 2, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unnamed man "recently" executed in Rajai Shahr Prison
Sentenced for murder based on qassameh testimony
FEBRUARY 2, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Shiraz on February 2
- FEBRUARY 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - On unspecified date Mohammad Anbarzehi executed in Shiraz
"in February"
- JANUARY 30, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammadreza Afaridoun executed in Zahedan on January 30
JANUARY 30, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehrdad Karimpou and Farid Mohammadi executed in Maragheh on January 30
On sodomy charges
- JANUARY 29, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nasser Sohrabzehi Executed in Zahedan
JANUARY 29, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Kaveh executed in Rasht Prison on January 29
JANUARY 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mir Soltan Amiri executed in Urmia on January 27
On drug-related charges
- JANUARY 26, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Brothers Yasser and Younes Nourizadeh Receive Death Penalty
For Drug Offences
- JANUARY 26, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Ghaneh and Akbar... executed in Shiraz on January 26
JANUARY 25, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Qarchak Prison, a Nightmare for Women Prisoners
JANUARY 25, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran-HRM year end report
More than 365 prisoners have been executed in 2021 in Iran
JANUARY 24, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Narges Mohammadi sentenced to eight years imprisonment and 70 lashes
Prominent human rights defender
- JANUARY 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Edris Gomshad-Zehi executed in Zahedan Prison on January 20
- JANUARY 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Three men executed in Zabol Prison on January 20
Mohammad Amin Dehmardeh, Parviz Akbarirad and Jamaleddin Gargij
- JANUARY 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 6 men executed in Zahedan Prison on January 20
Khodanazar Kakar, Hosseinali Khomr, Abdolhamid Esmailzehi, Dadshah Sarani, Ataollah Barahouyi and Mehrollah Dehmardeh
- JANUARY 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Yazdani executed in Rasht Prison on January 20
- JANUARY 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Zabol on January 20
Parviz Akbari Rud, Jamaleddin Gorgij and Dadshah Sarani
JANUARY 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Eshagh Mohammadamin executed in Isfahan on January 20
- JANUARY 19, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Ilam prison on January 19
Hamed Manouchehri, Sobhan Shohani and Mohammad Karim-Nezhad
- JANUARY 19, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Jomeh Mohammadi executed on January 19
JANUARY 19, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahrokh Khodadadi, 16-year-old boy, killed in a fight
Quarrel between the families of victim and of executed inmate
JANUARY 19, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Eghbal Mastoufi and Houshang Khan Mohammadi executed in Khorramabad on January 19
- JANUARY 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Parviz Khodadadi executed in Dehdasht on January 18
- JANUARY 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sajjad ... executed at Adelabad Prison on January 18
JANUARY 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nobel laureates call for the immediate release of Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi
JANUARY 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Year-end report by the KHRN
NGO focuses the Kurdish minority in Iran
JANUARY 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Valijan Rahmi executed in Qom Central Prison on January 17