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
APRIL 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javaid Rehman Mandate Extended for Another Year
Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
MARCH 30, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Fakhredin Valedi and Hossein Joshan Executed in Isfahan on March 30
The news was published by IHR on 25 April
MARCH 28, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Q. and Sadeq M. to be hanged in public
Charged with killing an intelligence officer in a clash
MARCH 28, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Zarkhatoon Mazarzehi sentenced to death
A Baluch woman
MARCH 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 executions in Arak Central Prison on March 27
Seyyed Feizollah Noorollahi, Ahmad Nouri, Hamid Goodarzian and Mohammad Najari
MARCH 27, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran-Backed Hezbollah Plans To Fight For Russia In Ukraine
MARCH 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran Dismisses UN Human Rights Assessment As 'Biased Report'
MARCH 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Massoud Ghoroobi and Gholamhossein Sadri executed on March 17
In Adelabad prison, in Shiraz
MARCH 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN Aminullah Gargij executed on March 17
In Adelabad prison, in Shiraz
MARCH 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 49th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva
Rehman’s Report Highlights Systemic Human Rights Violations in Iran
MARCH 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz Prison on March 16
Abdolreza Shafiee, Ahmad Gorgij and Bashir Samadi
MARCH 16, 2022United KingdomDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anousheh Ashouri Freed
MARCH 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed at Gohardasht Prison on March 16
Gholam Ali Khaurgir, Abbas Khaurgir, and Mohsen Jandaghi
MARCH 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Zubayd … executed in Isfahan on March 16, 2022
(unknown surname)
- MARCH 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Shiraz Central Prison on March 16
Ali Sahandi, Mohammad Hossein Sahandi, Sadegh Sahebi and Bashir Kaboli
MARCH 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yousef Hashemi executed in Qazvin Prison on March 16
- MARCH 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bashir Kameli executed on March 16
In Adelabad prison, in Shiraz
MARCH 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Rastegar and Gholamreza Paki executed in Isfahan on March 16
MARCH 15, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Peyman Babakhani and Mir Ali Hosseini executed on March 15
In Orumiyeh Central Prison
MARCH 15, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Bozorgzadeh executed in Bushehr on March 15
MARCH 15, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hatem Ozdemir sentenced to death
Kurdish political prisoner
- MARCH 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ebrahim Nasirkhah executed in Urmia Prison on March 14
MARCH 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A man and woman executed on March 14
In Shiraz Central Prison
MARCH 13, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoner Firooz Moosa-Lou sentenced to death
For membership in the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
MARCH 13, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hafizollah Rakhshani executed in Zahedan Prison on March 13
- MARCH 13, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Shiraz prison on March 13
Jamshid Fadaei, Hossein Mehrabani, and 2 not identified
- MARCH 13, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 men executed in Shiraz Central Prison on March 13
One identified as Najaf Anjom
MARCH 12, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alam Yarahmedzehi executed in Khash prison on March 12
(Also Yar-Ahmadzehi)
MARCH 10, 2022SwedenDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sweden renunciates to try two suspected Iranian secret agents
- MARCH 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahab … executed at Shiraz Central Prison on March 10
Surname not known