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
- JUNE 27, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A Tehran court sentenced six members of a notorious...
A Tehran court sentenced six members of a notorious gang of robbers to death, the Persian daily Jomhuri-ye Eslami reported
- JUNE 24, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Two members of a "religious fundamentalist network"...
Two members of a "religious fundamentalist network" accused of "armed actions" in Iran including an attack on a senior court official were sentenced to death, the head of Tehran's revolutionary court said
- JUNE 20, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Seven convicted Iranian murderers were to be hanged...
Seven convicted Iranian murderers were to be hanged simultaneously in Tehran's eastern Qasr prison, but three managed to escape death just minutes ahead of the execution
- JUNE 19, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Hassab Abbas Hosseinzadeh, convicted of murder and...
Hassab Abbas Hosseinzadeh, convicted of murder and drug trafficking, was hanged in public in the western province of Lorestan
- JUNE 19, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance...
The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran said the number of executions officially announced by the mullah's regime since the beginning of 2001 is 134
- JUNE 18, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
An Afghan sentenced for armed robbery, multiple rape...
An Afghan sentenced for armed robbery, multiple rape and kidnappings and terrorist activities was beheaded in public
- JUNE 17, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A drug trafficker was hanged for killing a member of...
A drug trafficker was hanged for killing a member of the Islamic Basij militia forces in the northeastern border province of Khorassan, the afternoon Kayhan paper reported
- JUNE 16, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
State television reported that twelve drug traffickers...
State television reported that twelve drug traffickers were sentenced to death
- JUNE 14, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Azizullah Shenwari, 14, was sentenced to death on drug...
Azizullah Shenwari, 14, was sentenced to death on drug charges
- JUNE 7, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The overwhelming majority of the Iranian people will...
The overwhelming majority of the Iranian people will boycott the mullahs' election farce, Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in a statement
- JUNE 6, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that Iran's revolution court sentenced...
It was reported that Iran's revolution court sentenced to death Gholam Reza Ameli, the gang leader of an ultra-orthodox group engaged in a spate of terrorist attacks
- JUNE 4, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The Iranian President Mohammad Khatami voiced opposition...
The Iranian President Mohammad Khatami voiced opposition to a call for executing a death decree against British author Salman Rushdie
- MAY 29, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Mehrdad Yusefi, an 18-year-old man, was hanged in the...
Mehrdad Yusefi, an 18-year-old man, was hanged in the western city of Ilam after the Supreme Court upheld a death sentence issued by a lower court for killing a friend two years later
- MAY 22, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Reza Pedram, 56, a former air force officer...
Mohammad Reza Pedram, 56, a former air force officer and an alleged CIA agent was hanged after the supreme court upheld the death sentence passed against him by a military court
- MAY 21, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian woman convicted of acting in pornographic...
An Iranian woman convicted of acting in pornographic films was stoned to death in the prison where she had been held for eight years
- MAY 16, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A 38-year-old Iranian woman, identified only by her...
A 38-year-old Iranian woman, identified only by her first name, Robabeh, was sentenced to be stoned to death under Iran's Islamic law for murdering her husband
- MAY 15, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Branch 1601 of the criminal court ordered the amputation...
Branch 1601 of the criminal court ordered the amputation of a young man's right hand fingers and condemned him to death, the Javan daily reported
- MAY 13, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's Revolutionary Court gave heavy sentences, including...
Iran's Revolutionary Court gave heavy sentences, including the death penalty, to some 30 members of a group of Shi'ite Muslim activists charged with subversion, the Tosea daily said
- MAY 12, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Two convicted murderers were hanged in Fat'hol Mobin...
Two convicted murderers were hanged in Fat'hol Mobin Square in the southwestern city of Dezful
- MAY 8, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A 37-year-old gay Iranian man who has overstayed his...
A 37-year-old gay Iranian man who has overstayed his visa, is fighting to stay in Japan out of fear of a death sentence if sent back to his home country
- APRIL 25, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Four Afghan drug traffickers were hanged in Birjand,...
Four Afghan drug traffickers were hanged in Birjand, in Iran's northeastern Khorassan province
- APRIL 24, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The UN Human Rights Commission adopted a resolution...
The UN Human Rights Commission adopted a resolution (21 in favour, 17 against and 15 abstentions) tabled by the European Union expressing concern for continued human rights violations in Iran
- APRIL 16, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Five drug-traffickers, sentenced to death by a revolution...
Five drug-traffickers, sentenced to death by a revolution court were hanged in public in the northeastern city of Birjand
- APRIL 5, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The death sentences issued to four men who tried in...
The death sentences issued to four men who tried in 1998 to sell Dh4 million worth of hashish to an undercover policeman have been upheld by the Dubai Court of Cassation
- MARCH 19, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Five people, included a woman, involved in a "ring...
Five people, included a woman, involved in a "ring of drug-traffickers" in Tehran's Khak-e Sefid District, were executed in public after being sentenced to death the day before by Branch 27 of Tehran's Islamic Revolution Court
- MARCH 8, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Javad Reza'i, Asghar Ramazani and Ahmad Baqerian,...
Mohammad Javad Reza'i, Asghar Ramazani and Ahmad Baqerian, sentenced to death in the central city of Shahin-Shahr on charges of "kidnapping, rape and aiding and abetting murder", won a last-minute reprieve after they asked for pardon at the gallows
- MARCH 2, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The annual report of the American State Department...
The annual report of the American State Department described the death sentences given to smugglers as being tantamount to human rights' violations in Iran
- MARCH 1, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammed Reza-Chupari and Daryush Keshavarz , both...
Mohammed Reza-Chupari and Daryush Keshavarz , both Iranians, were hunged in public for murdering three police officers and drug trafficking in the central city of Abadeh
- FEBRUARY 25, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Three [unidentified] Afghan bandits were hung in public...
Three [unidentified] Afghan bandits were hung in public in the Khorasan Province on the border with Afghanistan
- FEBRUARY 20, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
An Afghan national, Shalif Alizehi, was executed after...
An Afghan national, Shalif Alizehi, was executed after being found guilty of robbery, rape and drug trafficking