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
- JANUARY 20, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian court in Poldokhtar sentenced Ali Safar...
An Iranian court in Poldokhtar sentenced Ali Safar pour Rajab to death
- JANUARY 19, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An indicted murderer escaped death with the noose on...
An indicted murderer escaped death with the noose on his neck in Iran's northern city of Lahijan in the Gilan Province after being pardoned by the victim's family, the Persian daily Iran said
- JANUARY 19, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hamid Karafi was hanged in public in Karaj, near Tehran,...
Hamid Karafi was hanged in public in Karaj, near Tehran, the Farsi language newspaper Ettelaat reported
- JANUARY 17, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A man was sentenced to death in Ghom, Iran, the Farsi...
A man was sentenced to death in Ghom, Iran, the Farsi language newspaper Keyhan reported
- JANUARY 16, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A murderer, convicted of killing his son and wife,...
A murderer, convicted of killing his son and wife, was publicly hanged in the northwestern city of Nir, in Iran's Ardabil Province
- JANUARY 16, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A 25-year-old man was executed in Ghazvin, Iran
A 25-year-old man was executed in Ghazvin, Iran
- JANUARY 14, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran executed four men, one of them in public
Iran executed four men, one of them in public
- JANUARY 14, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A man was sentenced to death in Ghom, Iran
A man was sentenced to death in Ghom, Iran
- JANUARY 13, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Yousef Moini, a bank robber, was hanged in public in...
Yousef Moini, a bank robber, was hanged in public in the northeastern city of Mashhad
- JANUARY 12, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Mostafa K
Mostafa K
- JANUARY 11, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Canada's Supreme Court ruled that refugees who face...
Canada's Supreme Court ruled that refugees who face torture in their homelands "generally" cannot be deported there, unless the evidence shows that their continued presence in Canada poses a serious security risk to the country
- JANUARY 10, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hamid Reza R
Hamid Reza R
- JANUARY 8, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's hardline revolutionary court began the trial...
Iran's hardline revolutionary court began the trial in closed session of 15 Iranian activists charged with "conspiring to overthrow the Islamic system"
- JANUARY 6, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian man was publicly hanged for murdering a...
An Iranian man was publicly hanged for murdering a woman and two others were hanged for rape, newspapers said
- JANUARY 3, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Two men were sentenced to death in the Iranian city...
Two men were sentenced to death in the Iranian city of Kerman
- JANUARY 2, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A woman was sentenced to death in the Iranian capital...
A woman was sentenced to death in the Iranian capital Tehran, the Farsi language newspaper Afarinesh reported
- JANUARY 2, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Ali Asghar and Mohammed Naghi were condemned to death...
Ali Asghar and Mohammed Naghi were condemned to death in the Iranian city of Ozgol, the Farsi language newspaper Afarinesh reported
- JANUARY 1, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran carried out at least 198 executions, including...
Iran carried out at least 198 executions, including at least 6 women and a juvenile, in 2001
- JANUARY 1, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Stoning is a pre-Islamic punishment
Stoning is a pre-Islamic punishment
- JANUARY 1, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Nayereh Tohidi, a lecturer at the University of California...
Nayereh Tohidi, a lecturer at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), in an interview with Radio Free Europe, said stoning is a double-standard punishment: "There is a double standard here, even though the practice is applied to both men and w
- DECEMBER 19, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Three Iranians, convicted of murder, were sent to the...
Three Iranians, convicted of murder, were sent to the gallows at the Tehran Qasr Prison, while the fourth was pardoned while the noose was on his neck
- NOVEMBER 17, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian hanged for murder was cut down alive from...
An Iranian hanged for murder was cut down alive from the gallows after four minutes, following a pardon granted by his victim's family
- NOVEMBER 11, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Tehran's Revolutionary Court opened the biggest political...
Tehran's Revolutionary Court opened the biggest political trial to be held in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, accusing more than 30 members of the banned Freedom Movement, including two former ministers, of anti-state activities
- NOVEMBER 11, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A number of Iranian film-makers whose movies have dealt...
A number of Iranian film-makers whose movies have dealt with Iran's revolution and the status of its women, have had their works censored or banned
- NOVEMBER 11, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence of...
Iran's Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence of Qolam Reza Ameli, Kayhan newspaper reported
- NOVEMBER 8, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Gholamreza Ameli was sentenced to death for the attempted...
Gholamreza Ameli was sentenced to death for the attempted murder of the then head of the Justice Department of Tehran Province, Ali Razini
- OCTOBER 29, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Two Iranian men, Feraydoun Gorji and Mohammadyar Zahouri-Rad,...
Two Iranian men, Feraydoun Gorji and Mohammadyar Zahouri-Rad, were hanged for banditry
- OCTOBER 27, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Iranian police said they had renewed a crackdown on...
Iranian police said they had renewed a crackdown on satellite dishes after the authorities blamed a spate of riots on television broadcasts by exiled opposition groups
- OCTOBER 25, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The self-confessed serial killer of 16 prostitutes...
The self-confessed serial killer of 16 prostitutes in Iran's holy city of Mashhad, Saeed Hanayi, was sentenced to death by hanging
- OCTOBER 24, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The opposition Iranian "Resistance Council" called...
The opposition Iranian "Resistance Council" called on Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel to cancel his talks in Iran