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
JANUARY 13, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - IranIntl Report: At least 12,000 killed in Iran crackdown
JANUARY 13, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report - Day 17 of Iran’s Protests: at least 2400 dead
JANUARY 13, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Atari and Moharram Sarchemi executed in Tabriz on January 13
- JANUARY 13, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mostafa Hemati and Abbas Sharifi executed in Sari on January 13
JANUARY 13, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed on January 13IRAN 4 men executed on January 13
Mostafa Hemmati, Abbas Sharifi, Seyed Mohammad Attari, Moharram Sarchami
- JANUARY 12, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hrana Report on 16th Day of Protests: Families of Victims Gather at Behesht Zahra Cemetery
JANUARY 11, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran-HRS Report: 2,046 arrested
JANUARY 11, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Video shows many dead in Tehran
JANUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - IRGC Announces Arrest of a Foreign National on Charges of “Espionage”
Such claims are consistently met with skepticism
JANUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mass Killing of Protesters: The International Community Must Stop This Crime
JANUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mahmoud Mousavi killed during the protests
JANUARY 10, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on the 14th day of protests
116 persons killed
- JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jalil Doustyar Barahoui killed on January 9
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hengaw Report: 13 people killed on January 8 and 9 in Tehran
Setayesh Shafiei, Ahmad Ebadi Kamand, Ali Anbarestani, Arash Behfar, Ata Ebrahimpour, Amirali Kiani, Hassan Shakhesi, Daniel Maranki, Mohammad Entezami, Amir Mohammad Yazdani, Arash Yazdani, Mohammad Mohammadi-Mohab, Ali Rezaei
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 6 killed in Isfahan on January 9
Abolfazl Bakhtiari Douraki, Farzin Rahimi Douraki, Khani Asadi, Shahram Maqsoudi, Mohsen Asadi, Navid Alam-Chehreh
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 killed in Karaj on January 8 and 9
Mohammadreza Zamini, Abolfazl Arvin-Talab, Moein Gholami
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Four killed during protests in Razavi Khorasan
Mohammad-Amin Hosseini, Sajad Ordouni Kabir, Mousa al-Reza Akbari e Abolfazl Paydar
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amir Ali Jalilian killed on January 9
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN Iran-HRS Year End Report: 2228 executions
The Bloodiest Year in the Past Four Decades
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hrana Report on the 13th day of protests
65 killed, 2,311 arrested
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Zatparvar, athlete from Rasht, killed by direct gunfire
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javad Ganji killed during the protests
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Wncri Report on 13th day of protests
54 slain protesters
JANUARY 9, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - IHR Report on 13th day of protests
Death Toll Rises to at Least 51
JANUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mansoureh Heidari and her husband Behrouz Mansouri killed
By Iranian forces in Bushehr
- JANUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jamilollah Shahi and Mohammad Ashraf executed in Taybad on January 8
JANUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ariana Arjmandi shot dead in Borujerd
JANUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 18-year-old Zahra Bohlouli Pour killed in Tehran
Student of Italian Language at the University of Tehran
JANUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 killed in Tehran on January 8
Saeed Shirali, Alireza Salmani, Babak Sadeghi Mohseni, Ali Molaaqaei Rouzbehani, Ali Janani
JANUARY 8, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed on January 8