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 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - NCRI monthly report: Iran’s Regime Executed 285 in October 2025
1,471 executions in 10 months of 2025
NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris released
Another episode in Iran's notorious ‘hostage strategy’
NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Arman executed in Yazd on November 5, 2025
NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Habib Zare’ and Faez Abousheh executed in Shiraz on November 5
NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Karimi executed in Kermanshah on November 5
- NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Qobad Olfati executed in Ilam on November 5
NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Houshang Mohammadi executed in Esfarayen on November 5
- NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Habib Zare and Salim Samadi executed in Shiraz on November 5
- NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Astan executed in Kermanshah on November 5
- NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmad Nouri executed in Borazjan on November 5
- NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Baqer Abdi executed in Bandar Abbas on November 5
- NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Dorud on November 5
- NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Kiumars Gholami executed in Gorgan on November 5
- NOVEMBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamed Yari executed in Esfarayen on November 5
NOVEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kobra Rezaei, a woman, executed in Yazd on November 4
NOVEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amir Goudarzi + 1 executed in Isfahan on November 4
- NOVEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Mashhad on November 4
Rasoul Kahzadi, Majid Sh. + 1
- NOVEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 1 woman, 6 men executed in Yazd on November 4
Kobra Rezayi, Rasoul Karimi, Farzad Hosseini + 4
- NOVEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Kashan on November 4
- NOVEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farzad Kamangar executed in Qazvin on November 4
- NOVEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Erfan Qalavand executed in Nishabur on November 4
NOVEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Goli Kouhkan, married at 12, will be executed for killing her husband unless she finds €90,000
- NOVEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Yashar Jabari executed in Zanjan on November 3
- NOVEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Yousef Khani executed in Semnan on November 3
- NOVEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Varahmad Azizi executed in Birjand on November 3
- NOVEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali (Yaser) Madadi and Homayoun Jabari executed in Rasht on November 3
- NOVEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Soheil Yousefi and Hojjat Abdollahnejad executed in Shiraz on November 3
- NOVEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Minab on November 3
- NOVEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Arman Solgi executed in Borujerd on November 3
- NOVEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Arian Gerayi executed in Jiroft on November 3