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
DECEMBER 30, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 prisoners executed In Urmia on December 31, 2021
Moghadam Alizade, Hossen Abbasi Zade, Hamdullah Alami and Fayzullah Ghorbani
DECEMBER 29, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amin Ali-Panahi executed in Shiraz on 29 December 2021
DECEMBER 27, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Nehtani executed in Sabzevar Prison on December 27
On drug-related charges
DECEMBER 27, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified prisoner executed in Rajai Shahr Prison "in recent days"
For murder
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 - 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 19, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Heydar Ghorbani executed in Sanandaj on December 19.
Kurdish political prisoner
DECEMBER 18, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Shahriari executed in Shiraz Prison
On charges of moharebeh
- DECEMBER 15, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Khodai (Khodayi) executed in Ardabil on December 15
For murdering wife
DECEMBER 15, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Four men executed in Rajai Shahr Prison on December 15
Hamed Mousavi, Kourosh Mazaheri, Mahmood Mohmoodi, and Davoud ...
DECEMBER 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Nahtani executed in Ghayen Prison on December 14
For drug-related crimes
DECEMBER 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Massoumeh Zare’i executed in Amol prison on 14 December
128th woman since 2013
DECEMBER 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolsalam Barahooi executed in Isfahan Prison on December 12
For drugs
- DECEMBER 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hashem Amiri executed in Gorgan Prison on December 12
For murder
- DECEMBER 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bakhtiar Sarmadi and Hossein Heydarzadeh executed in Adel-Abad on December 12
For murder
- DECEMBER 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Tazehkar executed in Meshgin Shahr Prison on December 12
For murder
DECEMBER 11, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sivan Hosseini executed in Sanandaj on December 11
For murder
DECEMBER 9, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Three (unidentified) women hanged in Kerman on December 9
The number of women executed in Iran since 2013 reaches 127.
DECEMBER 9, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ibrahim Sistani executed in Kerman Central Prison on December 9
Iran has executed more than 60 Baloch since the beginning of 2021
DECEMBER 6, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Akbar Mohammadi executed in Neyshabour Prison on December 6
Maybe 18 at the time of crime
DECEMBER 6, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Tavakoli executed in Shiraz Prison on December 6
At least 110 prisoners executed on drug charges in Iranian prisons in 2021
DECEMBER 6, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohmmadreza Mazkouhi executed in Zanjan on December 6
For drugs
DECEMBER 5, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - November 2019 Protester Abbas Daris Sentenced to Death
And Brother Mohsen to Life Imprisonment
NOVEMBER 28, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Narouyi executed in Mashhad on November 28
For drugs
NOVEMBER 27, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Majid Sargolzayi executed in Zahedan on November 27
For drugs
NOVEMBER 25, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A woman, Maryam Khakpour, executed in Isfahan Central Prison on November 25
NOVEMBER 25, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Heidar Ghaljayi executed Kerman Central Prison on November 25
For drugs