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
OCTOBER 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Hamzeipour executed in Qom on October 19
OCTOBER 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Coordinated propaganda campaign against hunger strike in Ghezel Hesar
OCTOBER 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farshad Sanaei executed in Khorramabad on October 18
OCTOBER 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javad Naeimi executed in Qom on October 18
A nuclear engineer charged with espionage
OCTOBER 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sadegh Nik-Ravesh (Sadegh Nikroush) executed in Qom on October 18
OCTOBER 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Khodkar executed in Rasht on October 18
- OCTOBER 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Kamran Amini executed in Khorramabad on October 18
- OCTOBER 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Iran executes unidentified prisoner accused of espionage for Israel
OCTOBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hunger strike in Ghezel-Hesar Prison
Against the escalating wave of executions
OCTOBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Atash Shakarami to receive 38 lashes
- OCTOBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammadreza Cheraghi executed in Shahroud on October 16
- OCTOBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jaber Nadi (Naderi) + 1 executed in Kerman on October 16
OCTOBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Yousefi executed in Qom on October 16
- OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Milad Jahani executed in Shiraz on October 15
OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Ghezel-Hesar on October 15
Amir Reza Ghabadi, Majid Hatami, and Sajjad Hatami
- OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hazrat Esahqzai executed in Isfahan on October 15
OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on October 15
Milad Jahani, Sajjad Shahriari Golmakani, + 1
OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nahid Hemmati executed in Nahavand on October 15
41st woman executed in Iran this year
OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - One woman and four men executed in Shiraz on 15 October
Kafieh Qobadzadeh, Sajad Shahriyari Golmakani, Touraj Rostami, Nasir Babamohammadi, Milad Jahani
- OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Two unidentified men executed in Ghezel Hesar on October 15
- OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Isfahan on October 15
Maziar Bahrami, Adel Shirkhani, Hazrat Eshaghzi
OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Naeimi and Kazem Omidi executed in Ahvaz on October 15
OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Zahra Khan-Babaei and Younes Jahandideh executed in Bandar Abbas on October 15
OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehran Hagh-Panah executed in Mahabad on October 15
- OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Naeimi executed in Ahvaz on October 15
OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mansour Bideli executed in Shiraz on October 15
- OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Maziar Fathi (Maziyar Fathi) executed in Taybad on October 15
- OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sultan Morad Mohammadi executed in Qom on October 15
- OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abolfazl Gerousi and Shaban Ezzati executed in Tabriz on October 15
- OCTOBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Rafiq Gallehbacheh and Masoud Nemati executed in Arak on October 15