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 16, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's parliament voted a watered-down law defining...
Iran's parliament voted a watered-down law defining political offences in a bid to fix strict limits for judicial action
- DECEMBER 16, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran and the European Union kicked off their formal...
Iran and the European Union kicked off their formal dialogue on human rights in Tehran, part of landmark discussions linking negotiations on trade to thorny political issues, a European diplomat said
- DECEMBER 15, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's reformist parliament approved a bill banning...
Iran's reformist parliament approved a bill banning the torture of prisoners on after an earlier version was rejected by a hardline constitutional watchdog, parliamentarians said
- DECEMBER 14, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A court sentenced four judicial interrogators to four...
A court sentenced four judicial interrogators to four years in jail for killing an alleged smuggler by using torture to get him to confess, Modabber newspaper reported
- DECEMBER 11, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Death row academic Hashem Aghajari filed a complaint...
Death row academic Hashem Aghajari filed a complaint against the Judiciary with the Majlis Article 90 Commission, IRNA quoted the press as saying
- DECEMBER 11, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Australia said it was "pleased" with a first round...
Australia said it was "pleased" with a first round of discussions in Tehran with Iran on thorny human rights issues, saying the talks would continue
- DECEMBER 11, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi defended capital...
Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi defended capital punishment in the country, saying it exists in many other countries, ahead of political and trade talks with the European Union
- DECEMBER 10, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Some 100 Iranian protestors staged mock executions...
Some 100 Iranian protestors staged mock executions outside a meeting of EU foreign ministers, to protest an EU decision to launch trade talks with Tehran
- DECEMBER 7, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Baton-wielding security forces arrested at least 60...
Baton-wielding security forces arrested at least 60 people in the Iranian capital, a city official said, as thousands gathered in and around Tehran University to call for political reform
- DECEMBER 4, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
In an open letter to the press, Iranian dissident academic...
In an open letter to the press, Iranian dissident academic Hashim Aghajari took on his conservative opponents, mocking his death sentence for blasphemy as a political verdict
- DECEMBER 2, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A lawyer for an Iranian professor sentenced to death...
A lawyer for an Iranian professor sentenced to death for insulting Islam appealed the verdict, saying he was acting against his client's wishes a day before the verdict was to become final
- NOVEMBER 29, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Ayatollah Bojnurdi the head of Iran's Islamic Human...
Ayatollah Bojnurdi the head of Iran's Islamic Human Rights Commission condemned the death sentence issued against university professor Hashem Aghajari
- NOVEMBER 26, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A court in the Islamic Republic of Iran sentenced two...
A court in the Islamic Republic of Iran sentenced two men to death for murdering a used car dealer in Tehran
- NOVEMBER 26, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Aghajari, the prominent Iranian academic condemned...
Aghajari, the prominent Iranian academic condemned to death for blasphemy refuses to appeal his sentence, his lawyer told AFP, after the judiciary said the controversial verdict will be upheld unless Hashem Aghajari lodges an appeal
- NOVEMBER 24, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's student movement bowed to pressure from ruling...
Iran's student movement bowed to pressure from ruling hardliners and called a halt to two weeks of nationwide protests in defence of a liberal academic sentenced to death
- NOVEMBER 24, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iranian authorities slapped an outright ban on further...
Iranian authorities slapped an outright ban on further student demonstrations against the sentencing to death of a pro-reform dissident academic
- NOVEMBER 24, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Leading Iranian reformists warned students that powerful...
Leading Iranian reformists warned students that powerful conservatives planned to impose emergency rule if university demonstrations against a dissident's death sentence got out of hand
- NOVEMBER 23, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A court in Mashhad, capital city of the northeastern...
A court in Mashhad, capital city of the northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan, sentenced 12 members of the 'Vultures' gang to death on various charges
- NOVEMBER 22, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling...
The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the suspension of the death sentence on university professor Hashem Aghajari and also called for closer cooperation between the EU and the Islamic Republic in human rights issues
- NOVEMBER 22, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling...
The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the suspension of the death sentence on university professor Hashem Aghajari and for closer cooperation between the EU and the Islamic Republic in human rights issues
- NOVEMBER 22, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a...
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a wave of student protests was the work of pro-US enemies of the Islamic state and warned they would be suppressed if necessary
- NOVEMBER 21, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's reformist allies...
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's reformist allies said they could push for a rare referendum if two bills challenging the hardliners' grip on power were vetoed by conservatives
- NOVEMBER 17, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Students claimed a victory for freedom of speech as...
Students claimed a victory for freedom of speech as Iran's supreme leader ordered a review of the death sentence against dissident academic Hashem Aghajari
- NOVEMBER 16, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian man convicted of murder and robbery was...
An Iranian man convicted of murder and robbery was hanged in a prison near the capital Tehran, the Seday-e-Edalat newspaper reported
- NOVEMBER 15, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hundreds of hardline demonstrators in Tehran called...
Hundreds of hardline demonstrators in Tehran called for the execution of Hashem Aghajari, a popular academic and ally of President Mohammad Khatami sentenced to death for blasphemy
- NOVEMBER 14, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
The central council of the Islamic Students Association...
The central council of the Islamic Students Association of Shahid Saduqi's Medical Science University in Yazd sent an open letter to Ayatollah Hashemi-Shahrudi, calling on him to resign from his post as head of the Judiciary, following the death sentence
- NOVEMBER 13, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Embattled President Mohammad Khatami broke his silence...
Embattled President Mohammad Khatami broke his silence over the sentencing to death for blasphemy of Hashem Aghajari, a prominent academic and close ally
- NOVEMBER 13, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
State prosecutor-general Ayatollah Abdolnabi Namazi...
State prosecutor-general Ayatollah Abdolnabi Namazi said that the dossier of Hashem Aghjari should go through its legal procedure and that everyone should accept the final verdict of the law
- NOVEMBER 13, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hashem Aghajari refused to appeal his sentence in a...
Hashem Aghajari refused to appeal his sentence in a defiant challenge to the Islamic republic's hardline judiciary, his lawyer said
- NOVEMBER 13, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Around 2,500 students gathered at a Tehran university...
Around 2,500 students gathered at a Tehran university burst into prolonged applause when a speaker announced Hashem Aghajari's decision not to appeal his death sentence for blashpemy