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
- MAY 23, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Alireza Karami Kheyrabadi, convicted on charges of...
Alireza Karami Kheyrabadi, convicted on charges of hijacking a passenger plane to Iraq in 1993, was sentenced to death
- MAY 10, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Hossein Habibpour, 23 and Davoud Zak, also known as...
Hossein Habibpour, 23 and Davoud Zak, also known as Kianoush, were hanged in Qasr prison, Tehran, on charges of murder
- MAY 10, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Mahmoud F
Mahmoud F
- MAY 9, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Four Iranians were sentenced to death in Kuwait for...
Four Iranians were sentenced to death in Kuwait for drug smuggling
- MAY 8, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
A woman by the name of Zeinab-ol Sadat, also known...
A woman by the name of Zeinab-ol Sadat, also known as Soudabeh, was handed two death sentences for killing a 70 year old man, to whom she was "temporarily wed" and his 12 year old grandson
- MAY 7, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad-Reza and Mohammad-Bagher were sentenced to...
Mohammad-Reza and Mohammad-Bagher were sentenced to death, and 74 lashings, for murdering a man in the course of an armed robbery
- MAY 4, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
A man identified as Mohammad was sentenced to death...
A man identified as Mohammad was sentenced to death for killing his brother in law in Khavaran, near Tehran
- APRIL 30, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved...
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved the commutation of death sentences against Mehrdad Sohrabi, Ahmad Batebi, Abbas Deldar and Akbar Mohammadi for their part in the student demonstrations in capital Tehran, in July 1999
- APRIL 27, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Azam Faryad-Shiran and Abbas Azadmard were sentenced...
Azam Faryad-Shiran and Abbas Azadmard were sentenced to death and 91 lashes for killing Faryad-Shiran's husband
- APRIL 19, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Reza Zohrevand, 21, was publicly hanged in Khorramabad...
Reza Zohrevand, 21, was publicly hanged in Khorramabad for murder
- APRIL 18, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
The U
The U
- APRIL 16, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence passed...
The Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence passed on Abolfazl Allahgholi, 28
- APRIL 10, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Saeed Heidari, 21, Qassem Hosseini,19, Mohammadreza...
Saeed Heidari, 21, Qassem Hosseini,19, Mohammadreza Ebrahimi, Habibollah Eidmorad and Jalil Pourjalai were executed by hanging in Qasr prison, Tehran, on unrelated charges of murder
- APRIL 10, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Mashallah Shamsol-Vaezin, a pioneer of independent...
Mashallah Shamsol-Vaezin, a pioneer of independent media and editor of a succession of banned titles, was imprisoned for thirty months on the grounds that an article he had published criticizing the death penalty defamed Islam
- MARCH 23, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Hassan Kahi and Mohammad Noushin were sentenced to...
Hassan Kahi and Mohammad Noushin were sentenced to death for murdering Dr
- MARCH 16, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
The Islamic penal code envisages stiff sentences for...
The Islamic penal code envisages stiff sentences for a range of social, sexual and political offences, including frequent lashing and even executions
- MARCH 9, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
A woman was sentenced to death for murdering her husband
A woman was sentenced to death for murdering her husband
- MARCH 9, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Hussein Abedini, a member of the foreign affairs committee,...
Hussein Abedini, a member of the foreign affairs committee, said Iranian clerics had carried out some 120,000 executions since 1978, secretly or publicly, and that 700 people had been executed since the beginning of 1999
- MARCH 4, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences that...
The Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences that had been passed on Balal Moazami, Abbas A
- MARCH 2, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Hossein Arjmandi received two death sentences for murdering...
Hossein Arjmandi received two death sentences for murdering a mother and her son
- MARCH 1, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian student facing execution for his part in...
An Iranian student facing execution for his part in the violent unrest of last July claimed he had been tortured and ill-treated in prison since his arrest
- FEBRUARY 28, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Reza Eslampour, 29, was shot in the city of...
Mohammad Reza Eslampour, 29, was shot in the city of Larijan following charges of murder
- FEBRUARY 24, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Three drug traffickers were executed by hanging after...
Three drug traffickers were executed by hanging after their death sentences were confirmed by Iran's Supreme Court
- FEBRUARY 21, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Akbar Mohammadi's conviction for the riots in the summer...
Akbar Mohammadi's conviction for the riots in the summer of 1999, at Tehran University, was overruled by the Supreme Court following strong International pressure in Mohammadi's favour
- FEBRUARY 14, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Ali Gh was shot for the murder of Mostafa...
Mohammad Ali Gh was shot for the murder of Mostafa Sharilu, 84, in the city of Khoy
- FEBRUARY 11, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
U.S. President Bill Clinton urged Iran not to execute...
U.S. President Bill Clinton urged Iran not to execute three members of the Bahai faith, adding it believed the men were tried solely because of their religious beliefs
- JANUARY 30, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Afghano Ghafour Jami was shot after spending a year...
Afghano Ghafour Jami was shot after spending a year of imprisonment at Lavasanat on a murder conviction
- JANUARY 20, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Alireza Taraghikhah, 26, Mohammad Beigi, Nourkhoda...
Alireza Taraghikhah, 26, Mohammad Beigi, Nourkhoda Mahmoodi and Ali Salehi were executed by hanging in Tehran
- JANUARY 20, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
The Iranian daily newspaper Entekhab said a woman,...
The Iranian daily newspaper Entekhab said a woman, Masoumeh Fathi, had been executed by hanging in the north-western city of Tabriz, on January 19th, after the Supreme Court upheld her death sentence for murdering a female prison warder while trying to es
- JANUARY 20, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
The daily newspaper Hamshahri said a woman identified...
The daily newspaper Hamshahri said a woman identified only as Alieh and a male companion, Farhang Moradi, had been executed by hanging in Kermanshah, western Iran, for the murder of Alieh's husband