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
- 9,218
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 9,218 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 13, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nima Jafari killed under torture after arrest in Bandar Abbas
A 22-year-old Kurdish man
FEBRUARY 13, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Victim accounts: the killing of Jahanbakhsh Hesar Firouzeh, 70
FEBRUARY 13, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on day 48 of the Protests: 7,008 confirmed fatalities, 11,730 under review
Ongoing Arrests, UN Warning, and Rising Number of Forced Confessions
FEBRUARY 12, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Victim Accounts: the Isfahan crackdown
FEBRUARY 12, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Victim Accounts: Alireza Ghaleghafi, 22-Year-Old Law Student
FEBRUARY 12, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 18 year old Saleh Mohammadi sentenced to public hanging
The young athlete charged with the murder of a policeman during the protest in Qom
FEBRUARY 12, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on day 47 of the Protests: 7,005 confirmed fatalities, 11,730 under investigation
FEBRUARY 12, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 13 men executed on February 12
Darvish Ali Emami, Arash Davari, Saeed Adineh, Reza Barati, Hassan Kamare’i, Keyhan Rouzi, Kiarash Lashkari, Amirhossein Ghadami, Karim Garaei, ... Aghapour, Panj Ali Ebrahimi, Peyman Khani, and Mohammadreza Abdollahi
FEBRUARY 12, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentence of Yaghoub Karimpour upheld by Supreme Court
For “espionage in favor of Israel"
FEBRUARY 12, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - European Parliament adopts resolution condemning Iran
Almost unanimously
FEBRUARY 12, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nima Jafari died in custody
22, arrested a few days before
FEBRUARY 11, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on Day 46 of the Protests: 7,002 confirmed deaths, 11,730 under investigation
Conditional Releases, Arrest of Teachers, and European Parliament Session
FEBRUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Taha Shirazad and Kazem Farajinejad executed in Sari on February 10
FEBRUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on day 45 of the protests: 6,984 confirmed fatalities, 11,730 under review
Nighttime Chants and Intensified Police Presence
- FEBRUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 7 men executed
Mohammadkaram Jafari, Hadi Momeni, Shahriyar Veysi, Mokhtar Ataei, Bahram Chamani, Biouk Namvarzad, Farhad Karimzadeh
FEBRUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Victim Accounts: The Case of Mohammad Jamshidi's Unregistered Body
- FEBRUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 18 people hanged on February 10
- FEBRUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammadshah Rashidi and Ali Davtalab executed at Gezel Hesar on February 10
FEBRUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 107th Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
- FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 20 men executed on February 8 and 9
FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahla Dowlatabadi, a woman, executed in Kerman on February 9
6th woman executed this year
FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on Day 44 of Protests: 6,964 confirmed deaths, 11,730 under review
Student Gatherings, Warning from the Head of the Judiciary, and the Continuation of Arrests
FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Victim Accounts: Milad Mianekhah Monfardi
Protester Whose Killing Authorities Falsely Attributed to Drugs
- FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 19 more executions on February 9
10 have already been reported. That makes a total of 29.
FEBRUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mojtaba Amini executed in Neyshabur on February 9
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN- Victim Accounts: Habib Khoobipour, a 47-year-old civil activist killed by live ammunition
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on Day 43 of the Protests: 6,961 confirmed fatalities, 11,730 under review
- FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Ghezel Hesar
Ahmad Heydari, Farhad Heydari, Saeed Malekian, Amirhossein Mayeli, Ahmad Farhad Heydari
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Narges Mohammadi sentenced to seven and a half years
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and civil rights activist
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Firouz Mohammadi Executed in Khorramabad on February 8