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
- DECEMBER 18, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian man faces a possible lengthy prison term...
An Iranian man faces a possible lengthy prison term or even the death penalty for attaching a sticker to the rear window of his car proclaiming "The era of arrogant rulers is over"
- DECEMBER 17, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Jalil Attaii, an Iranian man convicted of a murder...
Jalil Attaii, an Iranian man convicted of a murder committed on 12 July 2000, was hanged in public at dawn in the main square of the northern Iranian town of Gonbad-e-Kavoos, the Kayhan evening newspaper said
- DECEMBER 17, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami voiced...
Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami voiced his opposition to the death penalty, adding that he did not even wish for the execution of captured ex-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
- DECEMBER 16, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The student news agency ISNA reported that a man named...
The student news agency ISNA reported that a man named Mohsen R
- DECEMBER 14, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The Iran newspaper reported that man identified only...
The Iran newspaper reported that man identified only by his first name of Mahmoud was executed in a prison in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran
- DECEMBER 10, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Three Iranian prisoners convicted of murder were hanged...
Three Iranian prisoners convicted of murder were hanged in a jail in Tehran, one of whom killed and dissected his brother and niece, the Entekhab daily reported
- NOVEMBER 26, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The new democratic Iran that will follow the downfall...
The new democratic Iran that will follow the downfall of the current democratic regime should abolish the death penalty, even for those responsible for grave violations of human rights, HOC Board Director Antonio Stango said
- NOVEMBER 23, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian man was hanged publicly in a square in the...
An Iranian man was hanged publicly in a square in the north-western city of Tabriz after being convicted of raping 23 girls ranging in age from six to 11, the Kayhan newspaper reported
- NOVEMBER 19, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The Dubai Supreme Court confirmed the June 1st death...
The Dubai Supreme Court confirmed the June 1st death sentences given to two of six Iranian drug smugglers who set fire to a boat containing two tonnes of cannabis as an anti-narcotics squad approached them off the Dubai coast
- NOVEMBER 11, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Four Iranian men found guilty of a series of kidnappings...
Four Iranian men found guilty of a series of kidnappings and rapes were sentenced to execution by stoning, the conservative Qods newspaper said
- NOVEMBER 3, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian woman condemned to death for killing a police...
An Iranian woman condemned to death for killing a police officer she says was trying to rape her has had her case sent back to the supreme court by Iran's hardline-run judiciary, press reports said
- OCTOBER 28, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's reformist parliament accused the hardline judiciary...
Iran's reformist parliament accused the hardline judiciary of a cover-up in the case of the Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died in July 2003 from a blow to the head while in custody
- OCTOBER 25, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
An unidentified man was hanged in Iran's south-western...
An unidentified man was hanged in Iran's south-western city of Shiraz for murdering a police officer during an armed robbery in 2002, the Javan newspaper quoted police as saying
- OCTOBER 25, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
An unidentified man aged 29 was publicly executed for...
An unidentified man aged 29 was publicly executed for murder in a square in Zahedan, in southeastern Sistan-e-Baluchistan province, Iran, the Entekhab newspaper quoted police as saying, without providing further details
- OCTOBER 23, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The Iranian daily newspaper, Qods, reported that a...
The Iranian daily newspaper, Qods, reported that a member of a gang found guilty of rape was hanged in a prison in the Iranian city of Mashhad
- OCTOBER 22, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The Iranian Sharg newspaper reported that two men found...
The Iranian Sharg newspaper reported that two men found guilty of murder were hanged in Tehran's Evin prison
- OCTOBER 20, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Five men convicted of drug smuggling and murder were...
Five men convicted of drug smuggling and murder were publicly hanged in the southern Iranian city of Bam, the Jomhuri Eslami newspaper reported
- OCTOBER 19, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's judiciary moved to dispel speculation that jailed...
Iran's judiciary moved to dispel speculation that jailed dissident Hashem Aghajari had once again been sentenced to death, press reports said
- OCTOBER 19, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Houshang Rostami, an Iranian man convicted of murder,...
Houshang Rostami, an Iranian man convicted of murder, was executed in a prison in Iran's western province of Ilam
- OCTOBER 18, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Thousands of Iranians demonstrated in the German city...
Thousands of Iranians demonstrated in the German city of Dortmund in support of the leader of the Iranian opposition movement, the People's Mujahedeen, under investigation in France over alleged terrorist links
- OCTOBER 16, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
A court in the southern Iranian city of Kerman condemned...
A court in the southern Iranian city of Kerman condemned a gang of six men to hang publicly for committing a series of murders in a bid to clean up on social vices, the Etemad newspaper reported
- OCTOBER 13, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The European Union issued a blistering attack on Iran's...
The European Union issued a blistering attack on Iran's human rights record but stopped short from agreeing to table or co-sponsor a United Nations General Assembly resolution that would single out Iran for its human rights violations
- OCTOBER 13, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The European Union issued a blistering attack on Iran's...
The European Union issued a blistering attack on Iran's human rights record but stopped short from agreeing to table or co-sponsor a United Nations General Assembly resolution that would single out Iran for its human rights violations
- OCTOBER 11, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi called...
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi called for an end to Islamic punishments in her country and their replacement by modern penalties "as in all democratic countries"
- OCTOBER 10, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain greets the award of the Nobel Peace...
Hands Off Cain greets the award of the Nobel Peace prize to Iranian lawyer and activist Shirin Ebadi
- OCTOBER 9, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian court sentenced Mohammad Ali Firouzi, a...
An Iranian court sentenced Mohammad Ali Firouzi, a 34 year old man convicted of serial raping children, to eight death sentences and 173 lashes, the judge in charge of the case said
- OCTOBER 8, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Zinat al-Sadat, a 34 year old nurse convicted of murder,...
Zinat al-Sadat, a 34 year old nurse convicted of murder, was executed by hanging in a Tehran prison, the Etemad newspaper reported
- OCTOBER 5, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian man identified as Mohammad A
An Iranian man identified as Mohammad A
- OCTOBER 1, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Iranian courts sentenced three men to death for, in...
Iranian courts sentenced three men to death for, in at least two of the cases, having contacts with outlawed political organisations, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said in a statement
- OCTOBER 1, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Three Iranian MPs wrote to the head of the judiciary...
Three Iranian MPs wrote to the head of the judiciary calling for the freeing of Afsaneh Noruzi, a young woman sentenced to death for killing a man who was attempting to rape her, press reports said