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
- 9,142
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 9,142 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
JANUARY 25, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Names of 78 women killed in January 2026 Uprising
JANUARY 25, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 21 men executed in various prisons
Between January 8 and 25
JANUARY 25, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Leila Judaki Hanged in Qom on January 25
5th woman executed in Iran in January 2026
JANUARY 25, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Crackdown on Health Personnel
For Treating Injured Protesters
JANUARY 25, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on 28th day of protests: 5,459 confirmed fatalities, 17,031 deaths currently under investigation
JANUARY 24, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hengaw Special Report: protest crackdown amounts to crimes against humanity
At least 3,000 civilians and protesters were killed. Hengaw estimates that approximately 500 members of government security forces were also killed
JANUARY 24, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of 14 more individuals killed in Gilan and Mazandaran confirmed
JANUARY 24, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amanch Karavanchi and Arsalan Sheikhi executed in Ghezel-Hesar on January 24
Kurdish prisoners of conscience
JANUARY 23, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on 27th day of protests: 5,137 confirmed deaths, 12,904 still under investigation
JANUARY 23, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - “Bullet Fees”
The regime demands large fees from families to release the bodies of the victims
JANUARY 23, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of 12 Kurdish killed in Kermanshah
Nazanin Zahra Salehi, Mohammad Matin Bagheri, Farhad Nazari Gorajouei, Hassan Nouri, Hamidreza Yousefi, Pedram Argha, Farhad Cheraghi, Sayad Faramarzi, Behrouz Narimanimehr, Amirali Abbasifar, Gholamhossein Ahadi, Alireza Eftekhari
JANUARY 23, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of 11 killed in Markazi Province
Ahmad Hashemi, Matin Moshtaghi, Iman Behdari, Saeed Taqvaei, Abolfazl Beikmohammadi, Mohammadreza Najafi, Jaber Salehi, Hassan Ghaderi, Mohammad Ranjbar, Mohammad Soltanifar, Behnam Kashani
JANUARY 23, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of 2 killed in Ilam
Milad Sademiri, Mehdi Ghanbari
JANUARY 23, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of ten women killed
Sona Yekta, Mohana Dokoshkani, Setayesh Sousanabadi, Nahayat Rahimi Dashti, Jamileh Shafiei, Hajar Eshaqi, Faeezeh Mostaan, Zahra Azadpour, Fatemeh Abdollahi, Shokoufeh Abdi
JANUARY 23, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of 10 killed in Tehran
Amirhossein Javadzadeh, Omid Fallahipour, Mehdi Aghahosseini, Karim Touni, Mohammad Goli, Artin Abdollahi, Yaser Ezzati Nosratian, Mohammad Mehdi Saifollahpour, Mostafa Afshar, Mehdi Mirzaei, Amirali Parvizi
JANUARY 23, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of 12 killed in Isfahan
Amirreza Fathian, Masih Shahvardi, Soheil Zilabi, Hossein Rahimi, Mohsen Chitsaz, Mohammad-Hossein Mousavi, Pouria Hamzaei, Ali Estakhr, Alireza Kharbo, Alireza Yazdani, Alireza Mousavi, Hamidreza Vatanjou
JANUARY 23, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of 9 university students killed
Artin Abdollahi, Zahra Mahmoudpour, Danial Diani, Ahmadreza Ghaderi, Mohammadreza Alikhani, Hamidreza Vatanjou, Alireza Yazdani, Sina Kazemi, Mostafa Sarafraz Ardakani
JANUARY 23, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council
In Geneva, on January 23
- JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hrana Report on 26th day of protests: 5002 confirmed fatalities, 9,787 still under investigation
Government Commits Violence, Denies Responsibility, and Continues Mass Arrests
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 killed in Kermanshah and Badreh
Mohanna Dokushkani, Armin Dadfar, Omid Shojaeian
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identifies of 5 killed in Karaj
Mohsen Arbabi, Amin Heidari, Ali Moradi, Amir Mohsen Allahyari, Ashkan Alipour
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of 4 killed in Arak
Mehrdad Moshtagh, Amir Hossein Dowlatabadi, Meysam Saberi Karharoudi, Ehsan Akbari
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of 4 killed in Shahrekord, Kerman, Yazd, and Lordegan
Alireza Ahmadi Babadi, Mehdi Iranpour, Danial Karshenas, Ali Khaledi
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of ten people killed in Gilan and Mazandaran
Abbas Keshavarz, Matin Khosravi, Mahmoud Farajnia, Mohammad Hajipour, Reza Samieipour, Pouya Khairkhah, Ershad Shahbazi, Hamed Bamdadi (Aliabadi), Yahya-Kia Deliri, Manouchehr Nikpour
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of 21 people killed in Isfahan Province
Hossein Mahmoudi Baram, Pouya Qashqaei, Abdollah Adibi, Hossein Barati, Abbas Aminzadeh, Mehdi Abdali, Iman Najjar Hosseini, Amir Abbas Baghestani, Mobin Ashouri, Mehdi Abdali, Seyed Hossein Mousavi, Javad Ranjbar, Mohammad Khalili, Peyman Barati, Majid H
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of ten Kurds killed in Tehran, Karaj, Qazvin, and Mashhad
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester (of 2023) Armin Nour-Mohammadi sentenced to death
On charges of moharebeh
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 14 men executed from January 19 to 22
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - IHR report on 25th day of protests: 3428 victims confirmed
Regime provides downward figures on victims of protests
JANUARY 22, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Identities of seven more killed during Tehran protests
Mobin Ghanbari, Mohammad Matin Mosleh, Ali Aghajani, Majid Astir, Alireza Javaheripi, Amir Ahmadi, Ali Orouji