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
DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nima Karami executed in Isfahan on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bahram Mousavi executed in Dorud on December 7
DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abbas Hosseini executed in Gorgan on December 7
- DECEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Milad Mirzakhani executed in Semnan on December 7
DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Davoud Dolatshahi executed in Borujerd on December 6
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Yahya Miri and Salar Rezaei executed in Kermanshah on December 6
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahram Torkashvand executed in Hamedan on December 6
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farid Zare’i executed in Karaj on December 6
DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javad Vafaei Faces Imminent Execution
Political Prisoner Transferred to Solitary Confinement
DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Barakhas Farzi and Khodadad Khosravi executed in Khorramabad on December 6
DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoner Ramin Zeleh sentenced to death
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Amin Panahizadeh executed in Sanandaj on December 6
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mansour Akhlaqi executed in Dezful on December 6
- DECEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Alimorad Ansari and Hossein Kochar’I executed in Qazvin on December 6
- DECEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Bushehr on December 5
- DECEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hosseinali Yeganeh executed in Birjand on December 4
- DECEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Rahim Mansouri executed in Kashmar on December 4
- DECEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Artam Ghaffouri executed in Mahabad on December 4
DECEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Christian convert Morteza Faqanpour-Sasi sentenced to prison term
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mostafa Farhadi executed in Ahar on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Siavash Khosravi executed in Kashan on December 3
DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - On 2 December, Iran reached 1,800 executions since the beginning of 2025
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Majid Namjoo executed in Bushehr on December 3
DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Keyvan Shahbakhsh executed in Bam on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Manouchehr Ahmadi executed in Borazjan on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehran Chaboksavar executed in Shahr-e Kord on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saber Zahedi executed in Nishapur on December 3
DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iman Mortezayi and Abufeiz Davodi executed in Semnan on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehdi Javanmardi executed in Rasht on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Amin Mahdavi executed in Mahshahr on December 3