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
- 9,147
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 9,147 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 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Group Hanging of 5 Men in Ghezel-Hesar on November 12
Ali Heidari, Soroush Haghpanah, Ali Kazemian, ... Ahmadi + 1
NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Yazd on November 11
Shah Hossein Farhadi + 2
NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mahmoud Ansari executed in public in Yasuj on November 11
- NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sasan Mehrani executed in Sanandaj on November 11
NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahin Saleh executed in Birjand on November 11
NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mostafa Al-Khamis executed in Bushehr on November 11
- NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Arash Karimi executed in Ardabil on November 11
- NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Vahid Fazeli executed in Rasht on November 11
- NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Kaka Morad Panahi executed in Kashmar on November 11
- NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mostafa Khan-Mirza Jamali and Hossein Farhadi executed in Yazd on November 11
- NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Geraei executed in Behbahan on November 11
- NOVEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khodayar Joghatay executed in Sabzevar on November 11
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abbas Souri executed in Dorud on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saeed Shateri executed in Isfahan on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Birjand on November 10
Abdolkarim Sasouli, Nourkhoda Ahmadi + 2
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Neyshabur on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahab Nazemi executed in Bojnourd on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Behzad Zeidi executed in Zanjan on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahriar … + 1 executed in Qazvin on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - … Ghasemi executed in Damghan on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Milad Nemati executed in Jiroft on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Noushad Mousavi executed in Chabahar on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abdolrahman Mehrbani executed in Gorgan on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abdolkarim Sasouli and Nourkhoda Ahmadi executed in Birjand on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Javad Naeimi executed in Semnan on November 10
- NOVEMBER 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saeed Shateri + 1 executed in Isfahan on November 10
- NOVEMBER 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Urmia on November 9
Mohammadreza Badavi, Reza Molaei, and Mehdi Jafarzadeh
NOVEMBER 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Habib Namazi executed in Karaj on November 9
- NOVEMBER 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Vali Karam Dastar executed in Nahavand on November 9
- NOVEMBER 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamid Naderi executed in Andimeshk on November 9