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
- JULY 11, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A woman, sentenced to death for murder and adultery,...
A woman, sentenced to death for murder and adultery, was stoned to death in Tehran's Evin prison, a judiciary source said
- JULY 5, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Adnan Maleknejad, 26, convicted of murdering a man...
Adnan Maleknejad, 26, convicted of murdering a man five years ago, was hanged at dawn in the yard of a prison in Ilam in western Iran, IRNA said
- JULY 4, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Nayereh Tohidi, a lecturer at the University of California...
Nayereh Tohidi, a lecturer at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), says stoning is a double-standard punishment: "There is a double standard here, even though the practice is applied to both men and women, because it is usually a punishment
- JULY 3, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Three armed drug-traffickers, sentenced to death by...
Three armed drug-traffickers, sentenced to death by a revolutionary court, were hanged at dawn in public in the southeastern city of Zahedan, that borders neighbouring leading drug-producer Afghanistan
- JULY 3, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian woman convicted for murder was hanged in...
An Iranian woman convicted for murder was hanged in public in the southwestern Lorestan province, the state IRNA news agency reported
- JULY 1, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Two Iranians, Mehdi Varmazyari and Safar Shah-Hasanlu,...
Two Iranians, Mehdi Varmazyari and Safar Shah-Hasanlu, were publicly hanged at dawn
- JUNE 28, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A Tehran revolutionary court sentenced to death three...
A Tehran revolutionary court sentenced to death three members of the same family, including a woman, for attempting to hijack an airliner to the United States, the official news agency IRNA said
- JUNE 27, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A senior official with the interior ministry complained...
A senior official with the interior ministry complained that only 233 drug traffickers were hanged in the entire country in the calendar year 1378 (March 1999-2000)
- JUNE 27, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A Tehran court sentenced six members of a notorious...
A Tehran court sentenced six members of a notorious gang of robbers to death, the Persian daily Jomhuri-ye Eslami reported
- JUNE 24, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Two members of a "religious fundamentalist network"...
Two members of a "religious fundamentalist network" accused of "armed actions" in Iran including an attack on a senior court official were sentenced to death, the head of Tehran's revolutionary court said
- JUNE 20, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Seven convicted Iranian murderers were to be hanged...
Seven convicted Iranian murderers were to be hanged simultaneously in Tehran's eastern Qasr prison, but three managed to escape death just minutes ahead of the execution
- JUNE 19, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Hassab Abbas Hosseinzadeh, convicted of murder and...
Hassab Abbas Hosseinzadeh, convicted of murder and drug trafficking, was hanged in public in the western province of Lorestan
- JUNE 19, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance...
The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran said the number of executions officially announced by the mullah's regime since the beginning of 2001 is 134
- JUNE 18, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
An Afghan sentenced for armed robbery, multiple rape...
An Afghan sentenced for armed robbery, multiple rape and kidnappings and terrorist activities was beheaded in public
- JUNE 17, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A drug trafficker was hanged for killing a member of...
A drug trafficker was hanged for killing a member of the Islamic Basij militia forces in the northeastern border province of Khorassan, the afternoon Kayhan paper reported
- JUNE 16, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
State television reported that twelve drug traffickers...
State television reported that twelve drug traffickers were sentenced to death
- JUNE 14, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Azizullah Shenwari, 14, was sentenced to death on drug...
Azizullah Shenwari, 14, was sentenced to death on drug charges
- JUNE 7, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The overwhelming majority of the Iranian people will...
The overwhelming majority of the Iranian people will boycott the mullahs' election farce, Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in a statement
- JUNE 6, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that Iran's revolution court sentenced...
It was reported that Iran's revolution court sentenced to death Gholam Reza Ameli, the gang leader of an ultra-orthodox group engaged in a spate of terrorist attacks
- JUNE 4, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The Iranian President Mohammad Khatami voiced opposition...
The Iranian President Mohammad Khatami voiced opposition to a call for executing a death decree against British author Salman Rushdie
- MAY 29, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Mehrdad Yusefi, an 18-year-old man, was hanged in the...
Mehrdad Yusefi, an 18-year-old man, was hanged in the western city of Ilam after the Supreme Court upheld a death sentence issued by a lower court for killing a friend two years later
- MAY 22, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Reza Pedram, 56, a former air force officer...
Mohammad Reza Pedram, 56, a former air force officer and an alleged CIA agent was hanged after the supreme court upheld the death sentence passed against him by a military court
- MAY 21, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian woman convicted of acting in pornographic...
An Iranian woman convicted of acting in pornographic films was stoned to death in the prison where she had been held for eight years
- MAY 16, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A 38-year-old Iranian woman, identified only by her...
A 38-year-old Iranian woman, identified only by her first name, Robabeh, was sentenced to be stoned to death under Iran's Islamic law for murdering her husband
- MAY 15, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Branch 1601 of the criminal court ordered the amputation...
Branch 1601 of the criminal court ordered the amputation of a young man's right hand fingers and condemned him to death, the Javan daily reported
- MAY 13, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's Revolutionary Court gave heavy sentences, including...
Iran's Revolutionary Court gave heavy sentences, including the death penalty, to some 30 members of a group of Shi'ite Muslim activists charged with subversion, the Tosea daily said
- MAY 12, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Two convicted murderers were hanged in Fat'hol Mobin...
Two convicted murderers were hanged in Fat'hol Mobin Square in the southwestern city of Dezful
- MAY 8, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
A 37-year-old gay Iranian man who has overstayed his...
A 37-year-old gay Iranian man who has overstayed his visa, is fighting to stay in Japan out of fear of a death sentence if sent back to his home country
- APRIL 25, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Four Afghan drug traffickers were hanged in Birjand,...
Four Afghan drug traffickers were hanged in Birjand, in Iran's northeastern Khorassan province
- APRIL 24, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
The UN Human Rights Commission adopted a resolution...
The UN Human Rights Commission adopted a resolution (21 in favour, 17 against and 15 abstentions) tabled by the European Union expressing concern for continued human rights violations in Iran