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 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 9 men Executed in Ghezel-Hesar on October 8
Ahmadi Mohammadi, Mahmoud Valiollah (Valiallah), Milad Yari, Pedram … + 5
OCTOBER 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahab Jabari and Rahman … executed in Mashhad on October 8
OCTOBER 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Heshmat Foroughi and Sajad Amiri executed in Shiraz on October 8
OCTOBER 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Behnam Niknam executed in Amol on October 8
OCTOBER 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Massoud Maleki executed in Isfahan on October 8
- OCTOBER 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Seyfollah Shojaei executed in Borujerd on October 8
OCTOBER 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj Central on October 8
Mobin Sarvari, Mahmoud Valiollahi, Sina Mohammadi, Pedram …
- OCTOBER 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Masoud Maleki executed in Isfahan on October 8
OCTOBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Sabeki executed in Bam on October 7
- OCTOBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Arsalan Khani and Qasem Sajadi executed in Kermanshah on October 7
- OCTOBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farzad … executed in Qom on October 7
1213 executions in Iran in 2025
OCTOBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Rezapour executed in Maragheh on October 7
- OCTOBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jalal Moradi executed in Taybad on October 7
- OCTOBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bahman Shah-Hosseini and Seyed Mahmoud Hosseini executed in Ghezel-Hesar on October 7
- OCTOBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saber Nasiri executed in Aligudarz on October 7
- OCTOBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Qom on October 7
Jafar Reghbati, Farzad Javanmiri and Behnam Saberi
OCTOBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Azizi + 1 executed in Bojnurd on October 7
OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Taleb Hejrati-Pour executed in Sanandaj on October 6
OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death Sentence of Mohammad-Javad Vafaei Sani Upheld
Political prisoner
OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abolfazl Lerni and Ahmad Arzani executed in Isfahan on October 6
- OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Saqaei executed in Sabzevar on October 6
OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Lennart Monterlos acquitted of charges of espionage for Israel
Young French-German tourist
- OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shah-Hossein Afshar executed in Nishabur on October 6
OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abolfazl Hosseini executed in Saveh on October 6
- OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Rahim Tavakoli executed in Isfahan on October 6
- OCTOBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Meysam Khodadadi executed in Gorgan on October 5
- OCTOBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on October 5
Jahanbakhsh Rakhshani, Mohammad Soltanpour, Farzad Rasoulzadeh
- OCTOBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mozaffar Doroudi executed in Semnan on October 5
- OCTOBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohsen Barzegar executed in Qazvin on October 5
- OCTOBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nour Mohammad Naseri executed in Shiraz on October 5