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
JANUARY 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Karaj on an uncertain date
JANUARY 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolbaset Rigi executed in Zahedan Central Prison on January 17
JANUARY 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolghafar Cheshmdam-Gargij executed in Zahedan on January 17
JANUARY 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Moslem Aghamirzayi executed in Khorramabad on January 16
JANUARY 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Six Political Prisoners on Dry Hunger Strike in Evin Prison
Sadegh Omidi, Hamid Haj Jafar Kashani, Mahmoud Ali Naghi, Peyman Pourdad, Ali Asghar Hassanirad and Mehdi Darini
JANUARY 13, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Jafar Salehi, Abdolrahim Sargolzayi and Shahin Khosravi executed in Isfahan
On January 13
JANUARY 12, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 8 prisoners executed on January 12 at Raja’i Shahr Prison
Iranian authorities executed 8 prisoners at down on Wednesday, January 12.
JANUARY 11, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farhang and Yasser Aliollahi executed in Zanjan Prison on January 11
For drugs
JANUARY 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Juvenile Offender Mostafa Emdadi on Death Row
JANUARY 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Heydar Ghorbani officially died for “unknown reasons”
Executed on December 19
JANUARY 9, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Rasoul Paghadam executed in Qazvin Prison on January 9
For murder
JANUARY 9, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Javad Vafaei, International Call To Save His Life
Political Prisoner Sentenced to Death
- JANUARY 2, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Salarzehi executed in Shiraz on January 2
For drug-related offences
- JANUARY 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Report: Iran killed 52 Kurd border porters in 2021
Hengaw says
- DECEMBER 27, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified prisoner executed in Rajai Shahr Prison "in recent days"
For murder
DECEMBER 27, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Nehtani executed in Sabzevar Prison on December 27
On drug-related charges
DECEMBER 26, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Moradi executed in Diezelabad
No other information
DECEMBER 26, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Imani executed in Ardabil Prison on December 26
For murder
DECEMBER 21, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ardavan Falahvand and Hossein Mirakarami executed in Khorramabad on December 21
At least 360 executions il 2021
- DECEMBER 19, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Heydar Ghorbani executed in Sanandaj on December 19.
Kurdish political prisoner
- DECEMBER 19, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Fatemeh Aslani executed in Isfahan Central Prison on December 19
129th execution of a woman since 2013
DECEMBER 19, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Three men executed on drug-related charges in Shiraz Prison on December 19
Hamed Darvish, Naeim Shehbakhsh and Abdolkhalegh Salarzehi
DECEMBER 18, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Shahriari executed in Shiraz Prison
On charges of moharebeh
- DECEMBER 15, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Four men executed in Rajai Shahr Prison on December 15
Hamed Mousavi, Kourosh Mazaheri, Mahmood Mohmoodi, and Davoud ...
- DECEMBER 15, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Khodai (Khodayi) executed in Ardabil on December 15
For murdering wife
- DECEMBER 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Nahtani executed in Ghayen Prison on December 14
For drug-related crimes
- DECEMBER 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Massoumeh Zare’i executed in Amol prison on 14 December
128th woman since 2013
- DECEMBER 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Tazehkar executed in Meshgin Shahr Prison on December 12
For murder
- DECEMBER 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abdolsalam Barahooi executed in Isfahan Prison on December 12
For drugs
- DECEMBER 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bakhtiar Sarmadi and Hossein Heydarzadeh executed in Adel-Abad on December 12
For murder