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
- 9,142
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 9,142 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
- APRIL 15, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Mehdi Sayyadi, a convicted murderer, was publicly hanged...
Mehdi Sayyadi, a convicted murderer, was publicly hanged in the northeastern town of Bandar-e Gaz
- APRIL 13, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammed Hassani, a convicted smuggler, was hanged...
Mohammed Hassani, a convicted smuggler, was hanged in jail in the northeastern town of Amol in Iran
- APRIL 10, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
The number of state-sanctioned executions around the...
The number of state-sanctioned executions around the world doubled in 2001, mainly because of a crackdown on crime in China, Amnesty International said
- APRIL 8, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Kouroush N
Kouroush N
- APRIL 6, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Five armed bandits received 74 lashes of the whip each...
Five armed bandits received 74 lashes of the whip each in one of the major squares of the ancient central Iranian city of Esfahan for a variety of crimes including rape, armed robbery, hooliganism and disrupting public security on various occasions
- MARCH 31, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Australia is negotiating with Iran to return more than...
Australia is negotiating with Iran to return more than 200 asylum seekers who have been refused refugee status in Australia
- MARCH 18, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Author Salman Rushdie, under a death threat for years...
Author Salman Rushdie, under a death threat for years for allegedly blaspheming Islam in a novel, has not been allowed to fly on Air Canada since September 2001 and an airline spokeswoman said she could not say when the ban would be lifted
- MARCH 13, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Three men convicted of killing two people in a 1997...
Three men convicted of killing two people in a 1997 bomb attack in the northeastern city of Mashhad were executed
- MARCH 12, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A top Iranian cleric called for the trial and execution...
A top Iranian cleric called for the trial and execution of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for alleged war crimes against Palestinians
- MARCH 12, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Human rights protests mounted as Iranian President...
Human rights protests mounted as Iranian President Mohammed Khatami started the second day of his official visit to Austria
- MARCH 12, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran has set $18,750 for the "blood money" a murderer...
Iran has set $18,750 for the "blood money" a murderer can pay to his victim's family to avoid execution
- MARCH 6, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Reza Kasra'i and Mir Abdolbaqi, who had reportedly...
Mohammad Reza Kasra'i and Mir Abdolbaqi, who had reportedly been sentenced to death for taking part in mass student protests in 1999 have been released after being pardoned by the esteemed leader of the revolution [ Ayatollah Khamene'i], following a reque
- FEBRUARY 28, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A 20-year-old woman named Kobra was sentenced to death...
A 20-year-old woman named Kobra was sentenced to death in Iran, state-run dailies reported
- FEBRUARY 27, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian convicted of triple murder as he robbed...
An Iranian convicted of triple murder as he robbed a family home was hanged in the northwestern province of Khorasan, an Iranian newspaper reported
- FEBRUARY 25, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
The Kayhan daily reported that a 28-year-old man by...
The Kayhan daily reported that a 28-year-old man by the name of Nabi was executed in Shiraz
- FEBRUARY 22, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A youth was sentenced to execution in Tehran
A youth was sentenced to execution in Tehran
- FEBRUARY 20, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
The Justice Department head announced the public hanging...
The Justice Department head announced the public hanging of two young men Amir Hoseyn Mashti and Ali Soltani, after the Supreme Court confirmed their death sentences
- FEBRUARY 19, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
The head of the Judiciary, [Mahmud] Hashemi-Shahrudi...
The head of the Judiciary, [Mahmud] Hashemi-Shahrudi participated in a gathering of Tehran University students and responded to the questions they put to him
- FEBRUARY 19, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A bandit named Ali Dozd [Ali, the Thief] or Ali Saddam...
A bandit named Ali Dozd [Ali, the Thief] or Ali Saddam [after notorious Iraqi President Saddam Husayn] was hanged in public in Anduhjerd
- FEBRUARY 19, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Faghir Gangar Zehi was executed in prison in Kerman, Iran
Faghir Gangar Zehi was executed in prison in Kerman, Iran
- FEBRUARY 18, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Afghan national - named Jabbar Tajik, son of Jamal...
An Afghan national - named Jabbar Tajik, son of Jamal - was hanged in Amol for breaking into a house and raping a woman
- FEBRUARY 18, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Three prisoners, Mohammad Hossein Mobaraki, Davoud...
Three prisoners, Mohammad Hossein Mobaraki, Davoud Dadashzadeh and Mohammed Asgari were hanged in the early hours in Tehran's Qasr prison
- FEBRUARY 17, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A Tehran court passed two death sentences on Fath Ali...
A Tehran court passed two death sentences on Fath Ali Moradi, and another death sentence on another man
- FEBRUARY 17, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A convicted murderer was publicly hanged in the northern...
A convicted murderer was publicly hanged in the northern city of Qazvin, the daily Iran reported
- FEBRUARY 16, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian court in Kerman sentenced two men, 23 and...
An Iranian court in Kerman sentenced two men, 23 and 24-years-old, to death
- FEBRUARY 14, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
The death sentence issued by Iran's late revolutionary...
The death sentence issued by Iran's late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini against the British author Salman Rushdie, who was accused of blaspheming Islam is irrevocable, the Islamic Revolution Martyr Foundation said
- FEBRUARY 14, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hassan Nedai was hanged in public in Takestan, Iran
Hassan Nedai was hanged in public in Takestan, Iran
- FEBRUARY 13, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A court in the northwestern Iranian province of Khorasan...
A court in the northwestern Iranian province of Khorasan handed out 11 death sentences to Saeed Hanaii
- FEBRUARY 13, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hojjat ol-Eslam Gharavian, a lecturer at Qom seminary...
Hojjat ol-Eslam Gharavian, a lecturer at Qom seminary and a hard-line cleric said Imam Khomeyni's fatwa on Salman Rushdie still stands and every single Muslim may carry out the verdict
- FEBRUARY 12, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iraj Rashvan was executed in Takestan, Iran
Iraj Rashvan was executed in Takestan, Iran