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
AUGUST 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 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 PENALTYIRAN - 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
AUGUST 2, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 awaiting execution of blinding sentence
One woman and two men
JULY 31, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Me'raji e Nemat Valipour Executed on July 31
In Shiraz and Sabzevar
JULY 31, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Payam Nouri executed in Ardabil on July 31
- JULY 30, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Omid Ebrahimi and Salar Nasiri executed in Urmia on June 30
JULY 30, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ayub Mirzaei executed on July 30 in Dizelabad Prison
JULY 29, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Shah Bakhsh and Ziaullah Brahui executed in Damghan on July 27
JULY 28, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Morteza Falah-Delavar executed in Rasht on July 28
JULY 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Soheila Abedi executed in Sanandaj on July 27
139th woman since 2013
JULY 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Faranak Beheshti was executed in Urmia on July 27
138th woman since 2013
JULY 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran cuts off man’s fingers for theft
8 others at risk of amputation
JULY 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Sanandaj on July 27
Payam Yazdani, Heyva Ahmadi and Abdollah Rahimi
JULY 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammadreza Arjmandi executed in Bam on July 27
JULY 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Senobar Jalali executed in Rajai-Shahr Prison on July 27
A female Afghan national
JULY 26, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gholam Nourzehi and Jomeh Barakzehi executed in Isfahan on July 26
JULY 26, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Ghadimi and Shahram Yadegar executed in Hamedan on July 26
- JULY 25, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Izadi executed in Isfahan on July 25
JULY 25, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 unidentified men executed in Mashhad on July 25
- JULY 25, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 unidentified men executed in Torbat-e-Jam prison on July 25
JULY 23, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iman Sabzikar publicly executed in Shiraz on of July 23