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
OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abolfazl Lerni and Ahmad Arzani executed in Isfahan on October 6
OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 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 PENALTYIRAN - 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
- OCTOBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Erfan Afzali executed in Sari on October 5
OCTOBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Saleh Ghahremani and Fardin Firouzi executed in Qazvin on October 5
- OCTOBER 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sobhan Najafi executed in Malayer on October 5
- OCTOBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN Saman Mohammadi Khiyareh executed in Ghezel-Hesar on October 4
Kurdish political prisoner
OCTOBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 6 political prisoners executed in Ahvaz on October 4
Ali Mojaddam, Mohammadreza Moghaddam, Moein Khanfari, Habib Dris, Adnan Ghabishavi, and Salem Mousavi
OCTOBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mahmoud Ghadimi executed in Isfahan on October 4
- OCTOBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saeed Barahouei executed in Zahedan on October 2
OCTOBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran Approves Tougher Espionage Law
OCTOBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammadreza Shehiki executed in Iranshahr on October 2
OCTOBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Five Christian Converts Sentenced to 41 Years in Prison
Hesamoddin (Yahya) Mohammad Joneydi, Morteza (Kalvin) Faghanpour Sasi, Abolfazl (Benjamin) Ahmadzadeh Khajani + 2
OCTOBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Ghezel Hesar on October 1
Ali Geravand, Javad Sargazi, Sajad Mahmoudi, Hamid-Reza Maleki
- OCTOBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saeed Amiri and Mehrdad Shahidi executed in Kermanshah on October 1
OCTOBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 187 executions in September (197 as for Hands off Cain)
Highest monthly toll in 20 years
- OCTOBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Seydi Tabaei executed in Karaj on October 1
- OCTOBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sadegh Bazvand executed in Dezful on October 1
OCTOBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Kermanshah on October 1
OCTOBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mostafa Mahmoud Salehi and Nader Mianji executed in Isfahan on October 1
- OCTOBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khosro Moradlou executed in Zanjan on October 1
- OCTOBER 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khodayar Faraji executed in Birjand on October 1