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.
Latest news
- JANUARY 13, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Yousef Moini, a bank robber, was hanged in public in...
Yousef Moini, a bank robber, was hanged in public in the northeastern city of Mashhad
- JANUARY 12, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Mostafa K
Mostafa K
- JANUARY 11, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Canada's Supreme Court ruled that refugees who face...
Canada's Supreme Court ruled that refugees who face torture in their homelands "generally" cannot be deported there, unless the evidence shows that their continued presence in Canada poses a serious security risk to the country
- JANUARY 10, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hamid Reza R
Hamid Reza R
- JANUARY 8, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's hardline revolutionary court began the trial...
Iran's hardline revolutionary court began the trial in closed session of 15 Iranian activists charged with "conspiring to overthrow the Islamic system"
- JANUARY 6, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian man was publicly hanged for murdering a...
An Iranian man was publicly hanged for murdering a woman and two others were hanged for rape, newspapers said
- JANUARY 3, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Two men were sentenced to death in the Iranian city...
Two men were sentenced to death in the Iranian city of Kerman
- JANUARY 2, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A woman was sentenced to death in the Iranian capital...
A woman was sentenced to death in the Iranian capital Tehran, the Farsi language newspaper Afarinesh reported
- JANUARY 2, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Ali Asghar and Mohammed Naghi were condemned to death...
Ali Asghar and Mohammed Naghi were condemned to death in the Iranian city of Ozgol, the Farsi language newspaper Afarinesh reported
- JANUARY 1, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran carried out at least 198 executions, including...
Iran carried out at least 198 executions, including at least 6 women and a juvenile, in 2001
- JANUARY 1, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Stoning is a pre-Islamic punishment
Stoning is a pre-Islamic punishment
- JANUARY 1, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Nayereh Tohidi, a lecturer at the University of California...
Nayereh Tohidi, a lecturer at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), in an interview with Radio Free Europe, said stoning is a double-standard punishment: "There is a double standard here, even though the practice is applied to both men and w
- DECEMBER 19, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Three Iranians, convicted of murder, were sent to the...
Three Iranians, convicted of murder, were sent to the gallows at the Tehran Qasr Prison, while the fourth was pardoned while the noose was on his neck
- NOVEMBER 17, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian hanged for murder was cut down alive from...
An Iranian hanged for murder was cut down alive from the gallows after four minutes, following a pardon granted by his victim's family
- NOVEMBER 11, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Tehran's Revolutionary Court opened the biggest political...
Tehran's Revolutionary Court opened the biggest political trial to be held in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, accusing more than 30 members of the banned Freedom Movement, including two former ministers, of anti-state activities
- NOVEMBER 11, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A number of Iranian film-makers whose movies have dealt...
A number of Iranian film-makers whose movies have dealt with Iran's revolution and the status of its women, have had their works censored or banned
- NOVEMBER 11, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence of...
Iran's Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence of Qolam Reza Ameli, Kayhan newspaper reported
- NOVEMBER 8, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Gholamreza Ameli was sentenced to death for the attempted...
Gholamreza Ameli was sentenced to death for the attempted murder of the then head of the Justice Department of Tehran Province, Ali Razini
- OCTOBER 29, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Two Iranian men, Feraydoun Gorji and Mohammadyar Zahouri-Rad,...
Two Iranian men, Feraydoun Gorji and Mohammadyar Zahouri-Rad, were hanged for banditry
- OCTOBER 27, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Iranian police said they had renewed a crackdown on...
Iranian police said they had renewed a crackdown on satellite dishes after the authorities blamed a spate of riots on television broadcasts by exiled opposition groups
- OCTOBER 25, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The self-confessed serial killer of 16 prostitutes...
The self-confessed serial killer of 16 prostitutes in Iran's holy city of Mashhad, Saeed Hanayi, was sentenced to death by hanging
- OCTOBER 24, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The opposition Iranian "Resistance Council" called...
The opposition Iranian "Resistance Council" called on Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel to cancel his talks in Iran
- OCTOBER 22, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Iranian authorities hanged three men, Mohsen, Mehrdad...
Iranian authorities hanged three men, Mohsen, Mehrdad and Ali-Reza, for rape
- OCTOBER 4, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's former prosecutor-general Ayatollah Morteza...
Iran's former prosecutor-general Ayatollah Morteza Moqtada'i defended the execution of Islamic punishments in public, saying they help deter the rise of crime in society
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian woman, convicted of murdering her husband...
An Iranian woman, convicted of murdering her husband in complicity with her paramour, has ended up at the gallows in Tehran's Qasr Prison
- SEPTEMBER 15, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Two Iranians have been sentenced to death and 23 of...
Two Iranians have been sentenced to death and 23 of their accomplices given jail terms for operating a prostitution ring in the holy city of Qom
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The Tehran's Justice administration hit back at those...
The Tehran's Justice administration hit back at those opposing the public execution of the court sentences, saying their opposition is "politically-biased"
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The reformist Iranian journalist, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin,...
The reformist Iranian journalist, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, serving a 30-month jail term since April 2000 for allegedly insulting Islam, was freed on bail, sources close to him said
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian, sentenced to death for shooting of a mother...
An Iranian, sentenced to death for shooting of a mother and her son, was hanged in public in northeastern Tehran before the eyes of hundreds of onlookers one week after his brother ended up at the gallows on the same charge
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran publicly hanged a man for kidnapping and raping...
Iran publicly hanged a man for kidnapping and raping a teenage girl