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
JULY 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran At Risk Of COVID-19 Fifth Wave As Homegrown Vaccine Campaign Stalls
Iran is the worst hit by Covid 19 in the region
JULY 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Abdolrahim executed in Rajai Shahr Prison July 14
For murder
JULY 13, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Raouf Rezaeifar, Mohammad Farokhi and Hashem Bavarmand executed in Isfahan on July 13
At least 48 executed on drug-related charges in Iran in 2021
- JULY 13, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Mohammadi was executed in Jiroft Prison on July 13
- JULY 13, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Execution of three prisoners in Isfahan Prison on July 13
Other sources gave, for the same day and place, completely different names
JULY 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farhad Najafi and Ali Ahmadi executed in Maragheh Prison on July 5
JULY 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Prisoner Released from Gallows After Forgiveness from Parents
Which are partly of him too
JULY 11, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Hassan Taheri Haghighi executed in Adelabad Prison on July 11
For murder
JULY 11, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Nemati and Mohammad Hassan Taheri executed in Shiraz prison on 11 July
For murder
JULY 11, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Ali Sharifi executed in Jiroft prison on 11 July
For murder
JULY 10, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amir and Akbar Jalilifar executed in Isfahan Prison on July 10
On drug charges
JULY 10, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Ghanbari executed in Rajai Shahr Prison on July 10
160th execution in Iran since the beginning of the year
- JULY 10, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unknown prisoner executed on July 10 at Rajai Shahr Prison
For drug related crimes
- JULY 10, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehdi Sarhadi executed in Isfahan -Prison om July 10
For drug related charges
- JULY 7, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 'Mehdi' sentenced to death on 7 July
on charges of killing police officer
- JULY 7, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Man sentenced to death on a charge of Moharebeh
For extortion
JULY 7, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Faizollah Ahmadzadeh executed in Qom on July 7
For drug-related charges
JULY 5, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 16-year-old girl Shakiba Bakhtiar Murdered by Father in Honour Killing
By law, this will be considered a "minor offense"
JULY 5, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Edris Gargij (Arbabzehi) executed in Zahedan Prison on July 5
For murder
JULY 5, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali P. executed in Mashhad Prison on July 5
crime unknown
JULY 5, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi G. executed in Mashhad Prison on July 5
For murder
- JULY 5, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 men, not identified, executed on July 5 in Maragheh Prison
For sexual relation with married woman
JULY 4, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Anvar Abdollahi, Baha-oddin and Davood Ghasemzadeh executed in Urmia
On July 4, for murder
- JULY 4, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 men executed in Shiraz prison on July 4th
One of them identified as "Jahani"
JULY 4, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khezr Ghavidel acquitted after execution
Relatives always insisted on the irregularities of the trial
JULY 3, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nasser Azmoudeh and Shahriar Amiri executed in Urmia on July 3
For drugs
JULY 3, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The trial of Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi was held on July 3
Young scientists accused of links with the opposition
JULY 1, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khamenei Appoints Mohseni-Eje’i as Judiciary Chief
Had a direct role in almost all crimes and executions in the past 42 years
JUNE 30, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death row juvenile offender Ali Arjangi pays diya
Escapes execution
- JUNE 30, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - A man, identified only as “M.”, executed in Mashhad Prison on June 30
For murder