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
- APRIL 20, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Iran at the bottom of reporters’ freedom
According to Reporters Sans Frontières Iran ranks 174 amid 180
APRIL 18, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unsolved Case of Ukraine’s Flight 752
Downed By Iran’s IRGC
- APRIL 17, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Cellmate Describes Torture and Humiliation of Ali Younesi
APRIL 15, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Djalali moved out of solitary
Says Amnesty
- APRIL 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Arsalan Moradi executed on April 13 in Birjand Prison
For drugs
APRIL 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentence of Arsalan Khodkam commuted to life imprisonment
A Kurdish political prisoner
- APRIL 13, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sohrab Masgari executed on April 13
In Gonbad Kavous Prison, for murder
- APRIL 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Council of the EU prolongs and extends sanctions
For gross and systematic violations of human rights
- APRIL 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed on April 12
One of them was Ghorban Karimi
- APRIL 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed at Karaj Central Prison on April 12
Merhdad Jalali, Mohsen Madavian and Ramezan Ali Shahroodi
- APRIL 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hossein Ramezani executed on April 12
In Qazvin Prison, for murder
APRIL 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Arsalan Zare executed at Shiraz Prison on April 12
For murder
APRIL 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Mahdavian executed at Karaj Prison on April 12, 2021
For murder
- APRIL 11, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Morteza Kabiri executed in Isfahan Prison on April 11
Convicted of drug charges
- APRIL 11, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Amnesty International has called on Iran to halt the execution of Farhad Salehi Jabehdar
Aentenced to death for the rape of a minor
APRIL 10, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Bayazid Rashidi executed in Orumiyeh Prison on April 10
For drug related charges
- APRIL 9, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Urmia prison on April 9
They were identified as Mahmoud Bayazid, Ali Mohammadzadeh, Arshad Heydari, and Hamid Najmi.
- APRIL 8, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Safar Rahimi executed in Taybad Prison on April 8
For drug-related charges
- APRIL 8, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - A.A and K.H. executed in Babol Prison on April 8
For murder
- APRIL 7, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Yasser Daryayi-Narouyi executed in Sabzevar Prison on April 7
For drug-related charges
- APRIL 5, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN Hojat Ghaed executed in Zanjan Central Prison on April 5
For murder
APRIL 5, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 12 women on Urmia's death row
they are Kurdish, sentenced for murder
APRIL 4, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 Kurdish prisoners executed on April 4 in Urmia Prison
Ahad Habibvand (Nematvand), Sadegh Mohi (Mohemi), and Mohammad Karim Mahmoudi
MARCH 30, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Annual report on the death penalty by Iran Human Rights
At least 267 people were executed in 2020
- MARCH 30, 2021GermanyDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Calls to release Swedish-Iranian scientist Djalali
From Sweden and Germany
MARCH 26, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - ‘No to Islamic Republic’
Iran opposition seeks to unify in anti-regime campaign
MARCH 24, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Spreading Justice: A database of human rights abusers in Iran
An HRA initiative
MARCH 23, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - UN adopted new resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran
UN Human Rights Council
MARCH 18, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - UN Human Rights experts demand immediate release of Ahmadreza Djalali
is reportedly in a critical condition and near death
MARCH 15, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Four men executed in Mashhad Prison on March 15
For gang-raping a woman