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 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rana Faraj-Oghli, a woman, executed in Tabriz on December 3
DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Ghezel-Hesar on December 3
Amir Emami + 2
DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saber Zahedi executed in Shahr-e Kord on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Karam Khoda Sepehri executed in Bojnourd on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehran Chaboksavar executed in Neyshabur on December 3
DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yousef Jamshidi executed in Bandar Abbas on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Pirvali Shabani executed in Sabzevar on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hesam Norouzi executed in Mashhad on December 3
DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Azad Changa executed in Naghadeh on December 3
DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified woman executed in Mashhad on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Amir Emami executed in Ghezel-Hesar on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Kalhour executed in Gorgan on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Safa Jowzipour executed in Gonabad on December 3
- DECEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehdi Javanmardi executed in Rasht on December 3
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in public on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - CSDHI report: at least 336 executions in November
(325 as of Hands off Cain)
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - … Pourheidari executed in Qazvin on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ebrahim Kalagar executed in Nowshahr on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Isfahan on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Yazd on December 2
Ali Neirang, Jalal Khorshidi and Mahmoud Abdollahi + 1
DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sultan Morad Nasiri executed in Esfarayen on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abbas Mozaffarzadeh executed in Qom on December 2
DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Semnan on December 2
Mahmoud Nouri, Hossein Shafizadeh and Gholamreza Bahrami
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Fariborz Niazi executed in Malayer on December 2
DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Javad Aminpour executed in Ardabil on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Jafar Alinia executed in Behbahan on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farshid Karami was executed in Damghan on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Malek Gerayi was executed in Ilam on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamed Kazazi was executed in Shiraz on December 2
- DECEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Esfandiar Zakipour executed in Quchan on December 2