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
- 9,218
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 9,218 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
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 9 men executed
FEBRUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alarm over systematic sexual torture and summary courts against protesters
- FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 13 men executed on February 7
Ali Faza Khoshneshin, Farshad Sheikhi, Avin Sorkhi, Jafar Faryadi, Ali Sarlakabad, Sosha Moradi, Behzad Mashayekhi, Mohammad Ali Saeedloo, Morad Goli, Abolfazl Naqvi + 3
FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 100.000 Iranian exiles demonstrated in Berlin
FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mirdar executed in Gorgan on February 7
FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Babak Amraei and Mohammadghasem Amraei executed in Khorramabad on February 7
FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Victim Accounts: Why Mahsa Dezfulian’s Family Kept Her Body at Home Overnight
FEBRUARY 7, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on Day 42 of the Protests: 6,961 confirmed deaths, 11,630 under review
FEBRUARY 6, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Naser Bekrzadeh Sentenced to Death for the Third Time
On charges of “espionage for Israel"
FEBRUARY 6, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on Day 41 of the Protests: 6,955 confirmed deaths, 11,630 under review
FEBRUARY 6, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Victim Accounts: Milad Gholami, Protester Whose Body Was Found After One Week
FEBRUARY 5, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - First physical archive of the 2026 massacre presented at a Brussels exhibition
By Hengaw and Mala Kurdî
FEBRUARY 5, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN Day 40 of the Protests: 6,941 confirmed deaths, 11,630 under review
Domestic Reactions, Continued Arrests, and Forced Confessions
FEBRUARY 4, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Day 39 of the Nationwide Protests: 6,883 confirmed deaths, 11,280 under investigation
A Lawmaker’s Remarks on the Suppression of Protests
FEBRUARY 4, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran HRM Report on 153 minors killed
Extrajudicial Killing during the January 2026 Uprising
- FEBRUARY 4, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 6 people executed in recent days
Iraj Mostafavi, Bakhtiar Shahabi, Hassan Alaeibakhsh, Ali Mohammadpour, Mohammad Javad Namdari, Hashem Abbas
FEBRUARY 4, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Seven Gurji ethnic people killed in protests identified
Hananeh Azizi, Mohammad Hassan Ashrafi, Masoud Youseyliani, Mohammad Sepiani, Esmail Aslani, Javad Heydari, Reza Karimi
- FEBRUARY 4, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 15 people hanged on February 4
- FEBRUARY 3, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 15 people executed on February 3
FEBRUARY 3, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Medical Staff Testimonies on Killing of Protesters in Hospitals
IHR Calls for an Independent WHO Investigation
FEBRUARY 3, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 339 executions in January
FEBRUARY 3, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on 38° day of protests: 6,872 confirmed deaths, 11,280 under investigation
FEBRUARY 3, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men executed in Gorgan on February 3
Naser Shahmoradi, Ahmad Borhani
FEBRUARY 2, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - IHR Report: Death of Sina Ashgbousi, 16
- FEBRUARY 2, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 8 men executed in Qaemshahr from October 2025 to January 2026
Shahab Karami, Nemat Mehraban, Yousef Eini, Azim Nourzad, Noushad Alipour, Meysam Rafiei, Jaber Mohammadi, Shahrouz Hosseini
FEBRUARY 2, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The killing of Fatemeh Nasiri and Zahra Jafari
- FEBRUARY 2, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 10 men hanged on February 2
FEBRUARY 2, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on 37th day of protests: 6,854 confirmed deaths, 11,280 under investigation
- FEBRUARY 2, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 7 men executed in Lahijan from October to December of 2025
Ghorban Rashidi, Kourosh Zamani, Kianoush Rostami, Payam Nouri, Omid Hatami, Samir Ajamloo, Iman Nejati
FEBRUARY 1, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on the 36th day of protests: 6,842 confirmed deaths, 11,280 under review
Government Releases List of Names and State TV Insults Those Killed