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
- 8,610
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 8,610 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
- JUNE 12, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. THREE WOMEN HANGED
three women were reported to have been hanged in Qazvin, west of Tehran.
- JUNE 8, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
Gholam Abbas heydari Poor was hanged in public in Bandar Abbas...
Gholam Abbas heydari Poor was hanged in public in Bandar Abbas...
- JUNE 8, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, identified only as Panj Ali...
a man, identified only as Panj Ali...
- JUNE 5, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. A COUPLE STONED TO DEATH
Iranian authorities have stoned a man and a woman to death, according to a report that has surfaced in Persian-language websites.
- JUNE 1, 2006ItalyDEATH PENALTY
HANDS OFF CAIN. ANNULMENT OF SENTENCE WELCOMED, RULING SHOWS TRUTH IN HOC’S DENOUNCEMENT
Hands Off Cain welcomed the Iranian Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the death sentence handed down to Nazanin and to order a retrial due to the emergence of new factors in the case.
- MAY 31, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. NAZANIN DEATH PENALTY OVERTURNED, NEW TRIAL TO BE HELD
the Iranian Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Nazanin, overturning the death sentence handed down to her for having killed her attempted rapist, the 'Sharq' daily reported. Nazanin, who has been imprisoned for over a year, was sentenced to hang in Jan
- MAY 31, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. THREE HANGED FOR MURDER, RAPE
an Iranian man convicted of murder and two others convicted of rape were hanged in Tehran's Evin prison. The man convicted of murder, identified as Alireza, had driven over and killed three people with his bus. He admitted doing so because he was angry af
- MAY 30, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, identified only as Mohsen M., 22...
a man, identified only as Mohsen M., 22...
- MAY 23, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN HANGED IN PUBLIC FOR ARMED ROBBERY
an Iranian man convicted of armed robbery was hanged in public in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
- MAY 23, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL BLASTS IRAN’S HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Amnesty International blasted human rights abuses in Iran in 2005 in its annual report on the state of the world's human rights.
- MAY 23, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran publicly hanged Hamed Parvan...
Iran publicly hanged Hamed Parvan...
- MAY 23, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, identified only as Norooz...
a man, identified only as Norooz...
- MAY 22, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN HANGED IN PUBLIC FOR MURDER
Majid Sogan was hanged in public in the western Iranian city of Khoramabad for stabbing a friend to death two years previously.
- MAY 22, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. TWO CONVICTED MURDERERS HANGED
it was reported that an Iranian woman and a foreign man who were convicted of murder had been hanged in recent days in Iran’s north-eastern province of Khorasan Razavi.
- MAY 22, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN HANGED IN PUBLIC FOR MURDER
an Iranian man convicted of murder was hanged in public in the southern town of Jahrom.
- MAY 22, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN HANGED IN PRISON FOR DRUG DEALING
it was reported that an armed narcotics smuggler, Masoud Naroui, was hanged in a prison in the southeastern city of Zahedan.
- MAY 20, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN HANGED FOR KIDNAPPING AND ARMED ROBBERY
an Iranian man convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery was hanged in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
- MAY 20, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
it was reported that 18-year-old Mehdi was sentenced to death in Iran in March 2006 for killing a man in Robat Karim...
it was reported that 18-year-old Mehdi was sentenced to death in Iran in March 2006 for killing a man in Robat Karim...
- MAY 20, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
it was reported that at the beginning of January 2006 Iran’s Supreme Court rejected...
it was reported that at the beginning of January 2006 Iran’s Supreme Court rejected...
- MAY 13, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. FIRST KNOWN EXECUTION OF A CHILD OFFENDER IN 2006
Majid Segound, 17-year old, and an unnamed 20-year old male were executed by hanging in Khorramabad, the capital of Iran’s Lorestan province.
- MAY 13, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. RIGHTS GROUP URGES EU TO PRESSURE IRAN TO STOP EXECUTION
a Tehran-based group, Human Rights Activists in Iran, called on the European Union to pressure Iran to suspend the imminent execution of a long-time political prisoner.
- MAY 9, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM. 'I'LL DIE IF YOU SEND ME HOME TO IRAN'
Fatema Torabi, a teacher who fears being stoned to death in Iran after being accused of adultery there appealed to Scottish judges to save her.
- MAY 7, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN HANGED FOR MURDER
an Iranian man convicted of murder was hanged in a prison in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.
- MAY 5, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. EU PRESIDENCY EXPRESSES SERIOUS CONCERN ABOUT IRAN’S HUMAN RIGHTS
in a statement from Austria's government, which holds the rotating EU presidency, the 25-nation bloc said it was particularly worried about 10 executions carried out at Iran's Evin prison on April 19 and the indictment of human rights defender Abdolfattah
- MAY 3, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN’S DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER APPROVED
it was reported that the death sentence for a “young man”, Qarib Rahman, has been approved by the Iranian mullahs' judiciary putting him on the verge of execution.
- MAY 3, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. JUVENILE SENTENCED TO DEATH
Iran’s Etemad state daily reported that a 17-year-old boy from the central city of Isfahan was sentenced to death.
- MAY 2, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. WOMAN HANGED IN PUBLIC
Farzaneh Sadeqi, female, was hanged in public for murder in Iran’s western province of Lorestan.
- APRIL 26, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. 23-YEAR-OLD MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN TEHRAN
a 23 year old man identified only by his first name, Abolqasem, was sentenced to death in Tehran
- APRIL 23, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN HANGED FOR MURDER, 'THUG' FLOGGED
an Iranian man convicted of murder was executed in a prison in Shiraz and a "thug" flogged near Tehran.
- APRIL 21, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. IRANIAN RESISTANCE CONDEMNS HIGH NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS IN IRAN
NCRI's Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Mohammad Mohaddessin, in a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, drew attention to the ruthless wave of executions that have risen dramatically since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becam