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
- NOVEMBER 23, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Morad Ali Heydari was publicly executed after being...
Morad Ali Heydari was publicly executed after being convicted of killing two relatives with a firearm
- NOVEMBER 23, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
The daily newspaper Kayhan reported that Mohammad Taqi...
The daily newspaper Kayhan reported that Mohammad Taqi Amini was executed by hanging for his role in a multimillion dollar fraud, it did not specify the date of his execution
- NOVEMBER 18, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
A man was hanged in the south-eastern province of Kerman...
A man was hanged in the south-eastern province of Kerman after his death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court
- NOVEMBER 6, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Convicted criminal charged with rape, drug trafficking...
Convicted criminal charged with rape, drug trafficking and extortion was hanged in a Tehran prison after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence
- OCTOBER 15, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Lak, convicted of kidnapping a three-year-old...
Mohammad Lak, convicted of kidnapping a three-year-old Afghan girl in 1999 and Abbas Qomi, convicted of abducting infant girls were publicly executed by hanging at Qom, south of the capital
- OCTOBER 11, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
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- OCTOBER 1, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
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- SEPTEMBER 29, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Seven members of a "terrorist network" in Iran "sponsored...
Seven members of a "terrorist network" in Iran "sponsored by the Iraqi Baath party" were sentenced to death, Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi said
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Amir Sadami, 21, and Morteza Abdollahi 22, were publicly...
Amir Sadami, 21, and Morteza Abdollahi 22, were publicly hanged in the north-western province of Qazvin
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
The Kar-o Kargar reported that authorities had executed...
The Kar-o Kargar reported that authorities had executed the ex-husband of a university professor in the southern Kerman province for shooting her to death last year
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Bahman Savari, 22, was publicly hanged in the south-western...
Bahman Savari, 22, was publicly hanged in the south-western city of Ahvaz for killing a policeman
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Masoud Eslami, a drug addict who had killed his 53-year-old...
Masoud Eslami, a drug addict who had killed his 53-year-old aunt last year and stole her gold, was executed by hanging in Tehran's Qasr prison
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Qolam Bandak was hanged in Qasr prison on charges of...
Qolam Bandak was hanged in Qasr prison on charges of having beaten to death a 22-year-old inmate
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Hassan Noruzian-Tabrizi was executed by hanging in...
Hassan Noruzian-Tabrizi was executed by hanging in the eastern city of Mashhad for murdering his pregnant wife in 1997
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Jalil Badali, Ezatollah Badali and Sedqali Shokati...
Jalil Badali, Ezatollah Badali and Sedqali Shokati were hanged after Iran's Supreme Court approved the death sentences imposed on them
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
A man was hanged in the south-eastern city of Kerman...
A man was hanged in the south-eastern city of Kerman for murdering his ex-wife after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence issued by a lower court
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
The daily Iranian newspaper Qods reported that Ali...
The daily Iranian newspaper Qods reported that Ali Taqizadeh, a 70-year-old man, was executed by hanging in the holy city of Mashhad in north-eastern Iran
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
The "Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy...
The "Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran" (SMCCDI) wrote a letter to Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, on the occasion of the 54th session of the UN General Assembly, in which they criticised President Khatami
- AUGUST 31, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Hamid Heydari was sentenced to death by Branch 12 of...
Hamid Heydari was sentenced to death by Branch 12 of the Public Court in Shahr-e Rey for the murder of a member of the Basij Resistance Force
- AUGUST 20, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Three men were hanged in Rejaii Shahr prison in Karaj...
Three men were hanged in Rejaii Shahr prison in Karaj on charges of armed robbery
- AUGUST 20, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Abdol-Hossein Mobaraki, 28, received a death sentence...
Abdol-Hossein Mobaraki, 28, received a death sentence on charges of stabbing to death Abbas Shoja-Khah, 55, whilst committing a burglary in the victim's apartment
- AUGUST 20, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
A man identified as Mohammad received two death sentences...
A man identified as Mohammad received two death sentences for murdering his sister and nephew in Autumn, 1999
- AUGUST 12, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Kiumars Hatami, Saeed Yusef-Beigi and Parviz Safari...
Kiumars Hatami, Saeed Yusef-Beigi and Parviz Safari were reported to have been executed by hanging by the local newspaper Jaam-e Jam
- JULY 29, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
A man identified as Abbas, was sentenced to death for...
A man identified as Abbas, was sentenced to death for stabbing Amir Fazli-nejad to death in March, 2000
- JULY 23, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Majid Afshari, 20, convicted of stabbing an 18-year-old...
Majid Afshari, 20, convicted of stabbing an 18-year-old friend to death and Seyed Ismail-Zendeh and his wife Ayda Shafiie, convicted of double murder, were executed by hanging in Tehran prison
- JULY 16, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Mohammadreza Rowshan received 3 death sentences after...
Mohammadreza Rowshan received 3 death sentences after he was found guilty of killing three policemen, Ali Kiani, Alibaba Khosravi and Hamid Derafshi
- JULY 9, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Maryam Ayubi, 30, was found guilty of adultery with...
Maryam Ayubi, 30, was found guilty of adultery with her lover, Hossein Asna-Ashari, and of complicity in the murder of her husband
- JULY 8, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran executed six drug traffickers convicted of smuggling...
Iran executed six drug traffickers convicted of smuggling several tonnes of opium and morphine
- JULY 6, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
A 23-year old man identified as Hassan was sentenced...
A 23-year old man identified as Hassan was sentenced to death in Tehran for murdering Manuchehr M
- JUNE 24, 2000IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence passed...
Iran's Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence passed on Soussan Hajirian, 42, who had been convicted of murdering her ex-husband after he beat the couple's children