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
JANUARY 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Edris Gomshad-Zehi executed in Zahedan Prison on January 20
- 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 PENALTYIRAN - Three men executed in Zabol Prison on January 20
Mohammad Amin Dehmardeh, Parviz Akbarirad and Jamaleddin Gargij
JANUARY 20, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Yazdani executed in Rasht Prison on January 20
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 19, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Ilam prison on January 19
Hamed Manouchehri, Sobhan Shohani and Mohammad Karim-Nezhad
JANUARY 19, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Jomeh Mohammadi executed on January 19
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 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Parviz Khodadadi executed in Dehdasht on January 18
JANUARY 18, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sajjad ... executed at Adelabad Prison on January 18
JANUARY 17, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Valijan Rahmi executed in Qom Central Prison on January 17
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 PENALTY
IRAN - 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 PENALTYIRAN - 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
JANUARY 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javanehha's Year End Report: Record of suppression
At least 350 executions, 3800 detentions and 112 state murders
JANUARY 1, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalil Eshterak executed in Zabol on January 1
DECEMBER 30, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unnamed man executed in Yasuj on December 30