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
- SEPTEMBER 1, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
In September, a court ordered the reformist Iranian...
In September, a court ordered the reformist Iranian newspaper Neshat to stop publishing because it had run articles seen as questioning a central principle of Islamic justice and challenging the authority of Iran's supreme clerical leader and, in particul
- AUGUST 14, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On August 14, Iran's spiritual leader Khamenei named...
On August 14, Iran's spiritual leader Khamenei named Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi to replace Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, who had been at the helm of Iran's judiciary since 1989
- AUGUST 1, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On August 1, Iranian police re-arrested Helmut Hofer,...
On August 1, Iranian police re-arrested Helmut Hofer, "because of his connections with some suspicious foreign elements and the fear of his escaping from Iran," judicial spokesman Saeed Nobari said
- AUGUST 1, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
In August, the daily Neshat reported that death sentences...
In August, the daily Neshat reported that death sentences had been handed down to six officials whom it identified only by their initials
- JULY 22, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran signed the letter, dated 22 July 1999, addressed...
Iran signed the letter, dated 22 July 1999, addressed to the President of the Economic and Social Council, in which the retentionist countries dissociated from the Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/61 on the question of the death penalty
- JULY 20, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On July 20, the newspaper Resalat reported that 3 Evin...
On July 20, the newspaper Resalat reported that 3 Evin prison officials were executed for extortion
- JULY 9, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On July 9, the police's storming of a Tehran University...
On July 9, the police's storming of a Tehran University dormitory sparked mass protests, which highlighted the struggle between reformists and conservatives in the Government
- JUNE 23, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On June 23, 9 men charged with theft had their right...
On June 23, 9 men charged with theft had their right hand cut off at Mashhad prison
- JUNE 18, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On 18 June, 3 men accused of theft had the 4 fingers...
On 18 June, 3 men accused of theft had the 4 fingers of their right hand amputated during a public ceremony in Tabriz
- JUNE 11, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On June 11, U
On June 11, U
- JUNE 9, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On June 9, a statement made by the head of the security...
On June 9, a statement made by the head of the security service in Shiraz Province, confirmed the arrest of 13 Jewish leaders in the city on charges of spying for Israel and the United States
- JUNE 1, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
In June, the weekly Iran reported that a man of 35...
In June, the weekly Iran reported that a man of 35 had received two death sentences for kidnappings
- MAY 18, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On May 18, according to Iranian human rights organizations,...
On May 18, according to Iranian human rights organizations, 3 men identified as Namdar, Faraj and Mojtaba were hanged in Qsar prison in Tehran
- MAY 13, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On 13 May, according to the local press, Abbas Afradeh,...
On 13 May, according to the local press, Abbas Afradeh, 18 years, was hanged from a crane in public in Bandar Abbas, accused of being a sympathizer of the Mojahedin of the Iranian People
- MAY 11, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On May 11, the newspaper Neshat published a statement...
On May 11, the newspaper Neshat published a statement by 325 political and cultural figures, asking the President of Iran for "the public trial of those who have masterminded, organized, planned and perpetrated these horrendous crimes," referring to the m
- MAY 6, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On May 6, according to Rahe Kargar, the organization...
On May 6, according to Rahe Kargar, the organization of the revolutionary workers of Iran, 4 men were executed in Sanandaj for drug trafficking
- APRIL 21, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On April 21, Hojatoleslam Kadivar, a supporter of Ayatollah...
On April 21, Hojatoleslam Kadivar, a supporter of Ayatollah Montazeri, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment
- APRIL 17, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On April 17, Nasser Saffarian, film critic of the newspaper...
On April 17, Nasser Saffarian, film critic of the newspaper Salam, was arrested for signing a letter protesting against the killing of writers and intellectuals
- APRIL 14, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On April 14, Ahmad Asqarpour was stoned to death in...
On April 14, Ahmad Asqarpour was stoned to death in public in northern Iran, in Babol, a town bordering the Caspian Sea
- APRIL 10, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On April 10, a German citizen Helmut Hofer, a 57-year-old...
On April 10, a German citizen Helmut Hofer, a 57-year-old businessman, was released on bail from an Iranian prison
- MARCH 16, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On March 16, 4 members of the Baha'i community's Higher...
On March 16, 4 members of the Baha'i community's Higher Education Institute, Habbibollah Ferdosian, Ziaullah Mirzapanah, Sina Hakiman and Farzad Khajeh, were sentenced to various prison terms
- MARCH 15, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On March 15, Mojahed, the paper of the Mojahedin of...
On March 15, Mojahed, the paper of the Mojahedin of the Iranian People reported that in the city of Khorramabad, in the Lorestan region, 18 youths previously arrested for disturbances in Ahvas, capital of the Khozestan region, were executed
- MARCH 13, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On March 13, according to the newspaper Khordad of...
On March 13, according to the newspaper Khordad of March 16, Ali Asghar Ghazanfarnejad Jelodar was sentenced to death and executed at Evin prison without a trial, on a charge of "war against the Islamic Republic," as he was a sympathizer of the Mojahedin
- MARCH 1, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
In March, President Mohammad Khatami's much-heralded...
In March, President Mohammad Khatami's much-heralded visit to France was unexpectedly canceled by the Iranian Government
- FEBRUARY 16, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On February 16, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, Khatami's...
On February 16, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, Khatami's representative on drug issues, said "executing drug smugglers is not a suitable way to fight drugs and our ten-year experience shows that this has not been a solution
- JANUARY 19, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On January 19, according to an article in the weekly...
On January 19, according to an article in the weekly magazine Iran, Amrollah (Hamid) Raiisi was hanged in the main square of Nahavand for drug trafficking, but Raiisi also seems to have been a sympathizer of the Iranian Mojahedin of the Iranian People
- JANUARY 1, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
The 1999 figures for capital sentences and executions...
The 1999 figures for capital sentences and executions in Iran are unrealistic and vague
- JANUARY 1, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
Public executions and executions of minors are carried...
Public executions and executions of minors are carried out in Iran
- JANUARY 1, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
Clandestine executions, carried out without a court...
Clandestine executions, carried out without a court sentence, are held in the prisons and often the families of the victims are not advised
- JANUARY 1, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On November 22, 1998, Dariush Forouhar, jurist, former...
On November 22, 1998, Dariush Forouhar, jurist, former Minister of Labor, and General Secretary of the Iranian Nationalist Party, and his wife, Parvaneh Eskandari-Forouhar, were found with their throats cut in their home