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
AUGUST 8, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Hassani-Kiazehi and Seyed Esmail Kurdtamini hanged in Isfahan Prison on August 8
On drug related charges
AUGUST 8, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Salim Mohammadi executed in Isfahan prison on August 8
No information about his charges
AUGUST 8, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Majid Golebacheh executed in Birjand Prison on August 8
On drug charges
AUGUST 4, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farzad Afsordeh executed at Jiroft Prison on August 4
For murder
AUGUST 4, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mojtaba Tondroo (Tondro) executed at Karaj Central Prison on August 4
For murder
AUGUST 4, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Hassan Eghdami and Ebrahim Afrashteh executed in Qom Prison on August 4
For drugs
AUGUST 2, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Eskandar Zare, Sepehr Abbasnejad and Hamzeh Rezaei executed in Urmia on August 2
For drug-related charges
AUGUST 2, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Arsalan Karimi executed in Isfahan Prison on August 2
For drugs
AUGUST 2, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sajad (Sajjad) Sanjari, a minor, executed in Dizelabad prison on August 2
He was 15 years old at the time of the crime
AUGUST 1, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan ... and Ali ... executed in Mashhad Prison on August 1
For murder
JULY 31, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Four unidentified men executed in Rajai Shahr Prison on July 31
For murder
- JULY 30, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Massoud Esfandiari executed on June 30 in Kermanshah Prison
For murder
JULY 28, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Esmail Fatehi, Mansour Mohammadi and Mozafar ... executed in Qazvin Prison on July 28
For drug-related charges
- JULY 28, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Vahid Raisi executed at Jiroft Prison on July 28
For murder
- JULY 27, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohandes ... executed on July 27 at Karaj Prison
For murder
JULY 25, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Shehbakhsh executed in Isfahan Prison on July 25
For drug-related crimes
JULY 25, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Bakhtiar Salemi executed in Shirvan Prison on July 25
For murder
JULY 25, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Cousins Amir and Sohrab Heydari executed in Yazd Prison on July 25
For drug-related crimes
- JULY 25, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed on July 25 at Isfahan Prison
Crime not known
- JULY 25, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Akbar Abedanpour executed on July 25 at Isfahan Prison
For drug related crimes
JULY 20, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Police use extreme force to quell Khuzestan water shortage protests
JULY 20, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Abdollahzadeh executed in Shiraz Prison on July 20
For murder
- JULY 19, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hossein Sadeghi executed in Isfahan Prison on July 19
For drug-related charges
- JULY 18, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Babak Aslani and Mohsen Asl-Hosseini executed in Urmia Prison on July 18
For murder
JULY 18, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Mohammadi executed in Zanjan Prison on July 18
At least 174 executions since the beginning of the year in Iran
- JULY 18, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Isfahan Central Prison on July 18
Ali Bandeh Parvizi, Javad Karimian, Nasir Ahmad Baluch and Mehrdad Golshani
JULY 18, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahbaz Jadidi executed in Yasuj Prison on July 18
For murder
- JULY 17, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in a Tehran prison on July 17
For murder
JULY 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Afshin Gheidar executed in Rajai Shahr Prison on July 14
161st execution in Iran since the beginning of the year
JULY 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farzan Masoumzadeh and Omid Yari executed in Rasht Prison on July 14
For murders