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
- FEBRUARY 15, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. SEVEN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN VOLATILE REGION
an Iranian court sentenced seven individuals to death for allegedly playing a role in twin bombings in the south-western city of Ahwaz that occurred in January, the state-run daily Iran reported.
- FEBRUARY 15, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
two men,identified only as Ayat K. and Mehdi A...
two men,identified only as Ayat K. and Mehdi A...
FEBRUARY 15, 2006IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. 15-YEAR-OLD SCHOOLBOY SENTENCED TO DEATH
a 15-year-old schoolboy has been sentenced to death accused of murder, government-run websites announced.
FEBRUARY 13, 2006IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCES FOR TWO TEENAGERS
Iran’s Supreme Court upheld a death by hanging sentence against two teenagers in Tehran, the official state news agency reported.
FEBRUARY 11, 2006IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. IRANIAN RESISTANCE WARNS OF EXECUTION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
the National Council of Resistance of Iran reported that a number of political prisoners, among them supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), had disappeared, according to family members and other prisoners.
- FEBRUARY 7, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. POLITICAL PRISONER HANGED
Hojjat Zamani, a political prisoner and member of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran in Gohardasht prison in Karaj, west of Tehran was hanged.
- FEBRUARY 7, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, identified only as Akram...
a man, identified only as Akram...
- FEBRUARY 7, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
an Afghan, identified only as Fada...
an Afghan, identified only as Fada...
- FEBRUARY 7, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, identified only as Ramazan...
a man, identified only as Ramazan...
- FEBRUARY 6, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Hassan, 18...
Mohammad Hassan, 18...
FEBRUARY 6, 2006IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. THREE MEN EXECUTED FOR 'DISRUPTING PUBLIC SECURITY'
three men described as "thugs" who "disrupted public security" were executed in the northeastern Iranian city of Sabzevar, the Khorassan newspaper reported.
FEBRUARY 6, 2006IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. JOURNALIST RISKS DEATH PENALTY FOR SATIRE
a 19-year-old Iranian journalist, Elham Foroutan, risked the death penalty for a satirical article in which she compared the Islamic revolution in Iran to the AIDS virus
- FEBRUARY 4, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, identified only as Javad...
a man, identified only as Javad...
- FEBRUARY 3, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
two men, identified only as Behjat, 35, and Mohammad...
two men, identified only as Behjat, 35, and Mohammad...
- FEBRUARY 2, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, identified only as Ali-Akbar...
a man, identified only as Ali-Akbar...
- FEBRUARY 1, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. TWO MORE PEOPLE HANGED, 12 EXECUTED SO FAR IN 2006
two men have been executed in Iran, one for serial kidnapping and drug dealing and the other for murder.
- FEBRUARY 1, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN HANGED FOR MURDER
an Iranian man convicted of murdering the aged parents of the woman he had hoped to marry was hanged in a prison in the southern city of Bandar Abbas, the Etemad-e-Melli newspaper said.
JANUARY 29, 2006IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. MAN PUBLICLY HANGED FOR MURDER AND ARMED ROBBERIES
an Iranian man convicted of murder and armed robberies was hanged in public in the southern city of Shiraz, the official news agency IRNA reported.
- JANUARY 28, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SERIAL RAPE
an Iranian man was convicted and sentenced to death for kidnapping and raping an estimated 340 young girls, media reports said.
- JANUARY 25, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran publicly hanged Ali Khani and Hassan Ghanbari for murder.
Iran publicly hanged Ali Khani and Hassan Ghanbari for murder.
JANUARY 23, 2006IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. MAN PUBLICLY HANGED FOR MURDER
an Iranian man convicted of murder was publicly hanged in Isfahan, the Iran newspaper reported.
- JANUARY 22, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. SISTERS PUBLISH LIST OF 9,400 IRANIANS 'MURDERED' BY THE REGIME
Ladan and Roya Boroumand, whose father, a pro-democracy opposition leader, was assassinated by an Iranian death squad while living in exile in Paris in 1991, unveiled the largest database of the victims murdered and executed by the theocratic regime since
- JANUARY 19, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, identified only as Gholamreza, 36...
a man, identified only as Gholamreza, 36...
- JANUARY 18, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, identified only as Varamin, has been hanged in public, in Iran.
a man, identified only as Varamin, has been hanged in public, in Iran.
JANUARY 18, 2006IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. COUPLE HANGED FOR MURDERING BURGLARY VICTIMS
a young Iranian couple convicted of killing a mother and daughter during a burglary were hanged in Tehran's Evin prison.
- JANUARY 18, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. IRANIAN MAN HANGED FOR MURDER
a man was hanged in Tehran's notorious Evin prison for alleged murder charges. Death sentence for the man identified by his first name Esmail, was endorsed by the mullahs' supreme court.
- JANUARY 16, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR END TO DEATH PENALTY FOR CHILD OFFENDERS
Amnesty International (AI) called on the Iranian authorities to take immediate steps to end the use of the death penalty for child offenders.
JANUARY 7, 2006IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. IRAN TO HANG WOMAN WHO KILLED IN 'SELF DEFENCE'
an 18-year-old Iranian woman who killed a man she said tried to rape her was sentenced to death for murder, according to the Etemad newspaper.
- JANUARY 6, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. DISABLED MAN PUBLICLY HANGED FOR MURDER
Behrouz Mehranpour,
- JANUARY 5, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, identified only as Mostefa, was executed in Mashhad
a man, identified only as Mostefa, was executed in Mashhad