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
- 9,142
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 9,142 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
DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farshid Jafarzadeh and Mehdi Rajabali Zadeh executed in Rasht on December 7
DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Ashraf Khodaei executed in Saveh on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Golmirza Nejati executed in Aligudarz on December 7
DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Borzu Beigi executed in Saveh on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khosro Nemati executed in Qom on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Morad Bahmani executed in Nishapur on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Kermshah Zaki-Pour executed in Zanjan on December 7
DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yavar Farhadi executed in Khorramabad on December 7
DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Rasht on December 7
Farshid Jafarzadeh, Sirouz Zabihi and Ali Saoudi
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Rastegari executed in Gorgan on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Masoud Ehsani executed in Bandar Abbas on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Baqer Souri executed in Kerman on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hassan Bahmani executed in Nishapur on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nouraddin Asgari executed in Arak on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nima Karami executed in Isfahan on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bahram Mousavi executed in Dorud on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abbas Hosseini executed in Gorgan on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Milad Mirzakhani executed in Semnan on December 7
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Davoud Dolatshahi executed in Borujerd on December 6
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Yahya Miri and Salar Rezaei executed in Kermanshah on December 6
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahram Torkashvand executed in Hamedan on December 6
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farid Zare’i executed in Karaj on December 6
DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javad Vafaei Faces Imminent Execution
Political Prisoner Transferred to Solitary Confinement
DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Barakhas Farzi and Khodadad Khosravi executed in Khorramabad on December 6
DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoner Ramin Zeleh sentenced to death
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Amin Panahizadeh executed in Sanandaj on December 6
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mansour Akhlaqi executed in Dezful on December 6
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Alimorad Ansari and Hossein Kochar’I executed in Qazvin on December 6
- DECEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Bushehr on December 5
- DECEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hosseinali Yeganeh executed in Birjand on December 4