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
- NOVEMBER 30, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
COUPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH IN IRAN
A pregnant woman and her husband were sentenced to death in Iran under charges of drug trafficking,
- NOVEMBER 29, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN CONFIRMS STONING SENTENCE AGAINST ADULTERESS
Iran's Supreme Court confirmed a sentence of death by stoning against a woman convicted of adultery in
- NOVEMBER 29, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN HANGS TWO FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Iran hanged two men convicted of drug trafficking in a prison in the southeastern city of Zahedan, Fars news
- NOVEMBER 29, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN SENTENCES THREE TO DEATH FOR MOSQUE BOMBING
Iran has sentenced three men convicted of a mosque bombing which left 14 people dead in the
- NOVEMBER 26, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN HANGS 10 MURDERERS IN MASS EXECUTION
Iran hanged nine men and a woman convicted of murder in Tehran's Evin prison, the Fars news agency reported.
- NOVEMBER 26, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: IMMINENT EXECUTION OF FARZAD KAMANGAR
Farzad Kamangar, the Iranian Kurdish teacher and social worker sentenced to death on, according to his lawyer, "absolutely zero evidence", could be hanged on November 26, 2008 ITUC warned.
- NOVEMBER 25, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN HANGS MAN FOR MURDER
Iran hanged a man convicted of murder in a prison in the western city of Borujerd. The Kayhan newspaper
- NOVEMBER 24, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. THREE HANGED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Iran hanged three men convicted of drug trafficking in a prison in the
- NOVEMBER 24, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN HANGED IN PRISON FOR MURDER
Iran executed a man convicted of murder in a prison in the western city of Shahr-e Kord, the
- NOVEMBER 24, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
a man was hanged in the central prison of Mashad...
a man was hanged in the central prison of Mashad...
- NOVEMBER 23, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: FOUR PRISONERS TRANSFERRED TO SOLITARY FOR HANGING
four prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their execution at a later date in the notorious Gohardasht prison, 40 kilometer west of Tehran, Iran.
- NOVEMBER 21, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: CHILD OFFENDER FACING EXECUTION
Iranian child offender Reza Alinejad is at imminent risk of execution for a crime he committed at the age of 17, Amnesty International claimed.
- NOVEMBER 20, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN HANGS MAN FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
an Iranian man convicted of drug trafficking was hanged in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, a newspaper reported.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
MAN HANGED IN IRAN FOR ALLEGEDLY SPYING FOR ISRAEL
Iran executed a man convicted of spying for Israel, a judiciary spokesman said. Al
- NOVEMBER 17, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN HANGS A MAN FOR MURDER
Iran hanged a man according to a Fars news agency report.
- NOVEMBER 14, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
YEMEN: IRANIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG-TRAFFICKING
a court in Sanaa, Yemen, sentenced an Iranian to death for drug tra
- NOVEMBER 13, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN HANGS TWO FOR OFFICIAL'S MURDER
Iran hanged two men convicted of murdering a government official in the northern province of Gilan, the
- NOVEMBER 13, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
the semi-official newspaper Jomhury reported that...
the semi-official newspaper Jomhury reported that...
- NOVEMBER 10, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. ANOTHER EXECUTION
Iran executed a 27 year old man convicted of murder in a prison in the western city of Shahr-e Kord, the Fars news agency reported
- NOVEMBER 8, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN TOUGHENS RULES FOR CARRYING ILLEGAL ARMS
the head of the Revolution and Public Prosecutor of the provincial capital Zahedan, Marziyeha, in the
- NOVEMBER 7, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. TWO HANGED FOR MURDERING CHILD
Two men found guilty of kidnapping and murdering a nine-year-old boy on Iran's Gulf island of Kish have
- NOVEMBER 7, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: MAN HANGED IN MASHAD
One man was hanged in Mashad, capital of northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan, reported the Iranian
- NOVEMBER 5, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN'S NEW PENAL CODE UNFAIR TO WOMEN: NOBEL LAUREATE
Nobel peace laureate Shrin Ebadi criticised Iran's new Islamic penal code, saying it remains unfair to women and uses an "incorrect" interpretation of Islam.
- NOVEMBER 5, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: EU PRESIDENCY CONDEMNS THE EXECUTION OF MONIORS
in a new statement issued by the EU Presidency, France, the bloc condemned the execution of minors by the mullahs' regime in Iran on October 31.
- OCTOBER 31, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
according to Amnesty International, Soheila Ghadiri's death sentence has been quashed in October.
according to Amnesty International, Soheila Ghadiri's death sentence has been quashed in October.
OCTOBER 29, 2008IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: JUVENILE HANGED FOR MURDER
the judicial branch of Isfahan province in Iran announced it had carried out that morning the death sentence of Gholamreza H., an Afghan national convicted of murder.
- OCTOBER 28, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
Soghra Najafpour, who spent 17 years on death row in Iran, has disappeared and human rights activists are concerned for her safety
Soghra Najafpour, who spent 17 years on death row in Iran, has disappeared and human rights activists are concerned for her safety
- OCTOBER 27, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN HANGS TWO FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Iran hanged two men convicted of drug trafficking, the Fars news agency reported. The executions took
- OCTOBER 27, 2008IranDEATH PENALTY
one man was hanged in the central prison of Mashad...
one man was hanged in the central prison of Mashad...
- OCTOBER 23, 2008ItalyDEATH PENALTY
DEATH PENALTY. HANDS OFF CAIN- IRAN SECOND IN GLOBAL EXECUTIONS
the Hands Off Cain association awarded a sad title to Iran today. As in 2007, Iran comes second in the number of global death sentences carried out and is joined by China and Saudi Arabia on the podium of the three highest users of capital punishment.