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
- 8,611
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 8,611 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
MAY 16, 2010IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: STUDENT’S DEATH SENTENCE FOR THROWING ROCKS REVERSED
in Iran, Tehran’s Prosecutor General, Abbas Jaafari Dowlatabadi, announced that the death sentence
- MAY 15, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN CONFIRMS DEATH SENTENCE FOR OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS
The death sentence for six opposition activists arrested in protests after last year's
- MAY 12, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
EU: IRAN URGED TO DROP DEATH SENTENCE ON TWO 'MOHAREBS'
European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton pleaded with Iran to drop death sentences
- MAY 9, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN HANGS 5 KURDISH ACTIVISTS, INCLUDING WOMAN
five Kurdish activists, including a woman, were hanged in Iran's notorious Evin Prison.
MAY 8, 2010IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: SIX HANGED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Iran hanged six men convicted of drug trafficking in
- APRIL 30, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN SENTENCES TWO TO DEATH
in Iran, Tehran lawyer Nasim Ghanavi told the International Campaign for Human
APRIL 29, 2010IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: MAN HANGED IN ARDEBIL
One person was hanged in the prison of Ardebil, in northwestern Iran.
APRIL 26, 2010IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: TWO EXECUTIONS IN MASHAD
According to the Iranian daily newspaper Quds, two men
- APRIL 25, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
ONLY SIX AFGHANS EXECUTED IN IRAN, ENVOY TELLS AFGHAN SPEAKER
Iran's deputy ambassador met with Afghani Senate Speaker Prof Hazrat Sebghatollah Mojaddedi and allegedly dismissed the rumour that 45 Afghans had been executed and 3,000 others were in jail in Iran.
- APRIL 23, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN SENTENCES ETHNIC KURDISH CITIZEN TO DEATH
a Kurdish citizen was sentenced to death by a revolutionary court
- APRIL 20, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: MAN HANGED FOR MURDER
The official website of Khuzestan (southwestern Iran) judiciary reported that
- APRIL 19, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN HANGS MAN FOR RAPE
Iran hanged an unidentified man for rape in a prison in the southeastern province of
- APRIL 19, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN HANGS TWO RAPISTS
Iran hanged two convicted rapists in a prison in the central city
- APRIL 19, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: FOUR HANGED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
Iran hanged four men in a prison in the southeastern province of Kerman for drug smuggling
APRIL 15, 2010IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: WOMAN PROTESTER SENTENCED TO DEATH
a female protester arrested in the Ashura protests in Iran in 2009 was sentenced to
- APRIL 14, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: THREE CONVICTED RAPISTS PUBLICLY HANGED
Three men were hanged in public in the northern Iranian city of Babolsar, reported
- APRIL 14, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. PUBLIC EXECUTION
one man was hanged in public in the town of Khoramshahr, in the southwest Iranian province of Khuzestan, according to the official website of the Khuzestan judiciary.
- APRIL 13, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: ARMED ROBBER HANGED
Iran publicly hanged a man and amputated the limbs of another for armed robbery in
- APRIL 11, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: THREE MEN HANGED IN ISFAHAN
Three men were hanged in the prison of Isfahan, in central Iran, reported the state run news agency Fars.
- APRIL 10, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
MPS CONCERNED OVER HANGING OF AFGHANS IN IRAN
Nur Akbari, a parliamentarian for Herat Province in Afghanistan, told parliament that he saw the bodies of 45 Afghans who were hanged in Iran and then sent to Afghanistan via Islam Qala port.
- APRIL 8, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: TWO MEN HANGED IN THE SOUTHWESTERN PROVINCE OF KHUZESTAN
two men were hanged in public in the towns of Behbehan and Shadegan, in the southwest Iranian
APRIL 8, 2010IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: FIVE DRUG TRAFFICKERS HANGED
Five people were hanged in Mashad (northeastern Iran) according to the reports.
- APRIL 8, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: THREE PEOPLE HANGED IN TAIBAD
Three people were hanged in the prison of Taibad (Taybad) northeastern Iran, reported the
- APRIL 2, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: KURDISH MOTHER AND HER CHILDREN SENTENCED TO DEATH
to the court in Mahabad in the Iranian Kurdish province of Urmiyeh, Caziye Dervis Zade and her
- MARCH 22, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
AFGHANISTAN: OUTCRY IN KABUL OVER AFGHANS ON DEATH ROW IN IRAN
a delegation of Afghan lawmakers including Abdul Sattar Khwasi, first secretary of the lower house of parliament, returned from Iran with news that three thousand Afghanis have been sentenced to death there for various crimes
- MARCH 22, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: AFGHANI MINOR ON DEATH ROW
it was reported that Jandarshah Nabizada, 16, from Afghanistan's northern Takhar Province
- MARCH 20, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
CALLS TO CANCEL DEATH SENTENCE AGAINST IRANIAN KURDISH ACTIVIST
Falak al-Din Kaka Yi, a former Iraqi Kurdistan minister...
- MARCH 17, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
SERIAL KILLER SENTENCED TO DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN
a man was sentenced to death six times, 24 months' imprisonment and 74 lashes for killing six women from 2006 to 2009 in the Iranian city of Qazvin, court spokesperson Mazahir Mehralian told Iranian news agency FARS.
MARCH 17, 2010IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: ANOTHER ASHURA DAY PROTESTER RECEIVES THE DEATH SENTENCE
Abdolreza Ghanbari, accused of heretics (moharebeh) in Iran for participation in Ashura Day
MARCH 15, 2010IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: PROTESTORS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Six people arrested during the riots on Ashura Day were sentenced to death, Tehran