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
DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - … Pourheidari executed in Qazvin on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ebrahim Kalagar executed in Nowshahr on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Isfahan on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Yazd on December 2
Ali Neirang, Jalal Khorshidi and Mahmoud Abdollahi + 1
DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sultan Morad Nasiri executed in Esfarayen on December 2
DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abbas Mozaffarzadeh executed in Qom on December 2
DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Semnan on December 2
Mahmoud Nouri, Hossein Shafizadeh and Gholamreza Bahrami
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Fariborz Niazi executed in Malayer on December 2
DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Javad Aminpour executed in Ardabil on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Jafar Alinia executed in Behbahan on December 2
DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farshid Karami was executed in Damghan on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Malek Gerayi was executed in Ilam on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamed Kazazi was executed in Shiraz on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Esfandiar Zakipour executed in Quchan on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Amir Reza Shah-Mohammadi was executed in Zanjan on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Aziz Sheikhi executed in Ferdows on December 2
DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Shiraz on December 2
Bahram Ajdari, Hamed Kazazi, Ali Shokrzadeh and Parsa Saedi
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Zakiri executed in public in Borazjan on December 2
- DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Tayeb Minayi executed in Ahvaz on December 1
- DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nourkhoda Karami executed in Qom on December 1
- DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Javad Souri executed in Shahr-e Kord on December 1
- DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Bandar Abbas on December 1
DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - At least 260 persons were executed in Iran during November 2025
According to Hands off Cain, executions were at least 324
- DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Seyed Ali Hajipour executed in Taybad on December 1
- DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abdollah Barahouyi and Mehrdad Aspid executed in Isfahan on December 1
- DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Tabriz on December 1
- DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ebrahim Tabrizi executed in Mahabad on December 1
- DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hossein Zamani executed in Dorud on December 1
DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jafar Panahi sentenced to one year in prison and additional penalties
Palme d'Or at Cannes 2025
- DECEMBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Bandar Abbas on December 1