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
- 9,149
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 9,149 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
SEPTEMBER 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Bijan Soleimani executed in Navahand on September 24
SEPTEMBER 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farhad Mehdipour executed in Ilam on September 24
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jahan Houshmand executed in Ahvaz on September 24
SEPTEMBER 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Aria Soltani executed in Shiraz on September 24
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Mahdinejad executed in Ghezel-Hesar on September 24
SEPTEMBER 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Keyvan Mohammadi executed in Zanjan on September 24
SEPTEMBER 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Roya Abbas-zadeh executed in Zanjan on September 24
A 25-year-old Turkish woman
SEPTEMBER 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kolsoum Akbari handed 10 death sentences for poisoning 11 husbands
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farhad Mahdipur executed in Ilam on September 23, 2025
SEPTEMBER 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 87th Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
SEPTEMBER 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nader Fathi executed in Sari on September 22
SEPTEMBER 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolaziz Ghaljayi executed in Zahedan on September 21
1102 executions in Iran in 2025
SEPTEMBER 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mousa Alizadeh and Vahid Ebrahimi executed in Isfahan on September 21
SEPTEMBER 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Mousavi executed in Gachsaran on September 21
SEPTEMBER 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Kermanshah on September 21
Saeed Ghobadi, Kazem Jamashourani and Hadi Nowruzi
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Rasoul Yari executed in Arak on September 21
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Emad Keshvari executed in Taybad on September 21
SEPTEMBER 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kaviar Khediripour executed in Mahabad on September 21
SEPTEMBER 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mojtaba Mahdavi and … Ahmadi executed in Taybad on September 21
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Payman Jamshidi executed in Khorramabad on September 21
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Beqlani executed in Borazjan on September 21
SEPTEMBER 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali-Mansour Vafaee executed in Tabriz on September 20
SEPTEMBER 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Malayer on September 20
SEPTEMBER 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran’s Expanding Prison Protest Movement against Executions
SEPTEMBER 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Calling for Life-Saving Medical Treatment for Zeinab Jalalian
Iran’s Longest Serving Female Political Prisoner
SEPTEMBER 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javad Afagh executed in Mashhad on September 18
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Isfahan on September 17
Abbas Yazdani, Nadim Ashrafzadeh and Abdolghader Sargolzayi
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 6 men execute in Ghezel Hesar on September 17
Ali Esmaili, Majid Hosseini, Omid Hassanzadeh, Rahman Sarlak, Babak Shahbazi + Unk Afghan
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A woman, Zahra Fotouhi, and Morteza Shirkhani executed in Tabriz on September 17
1069 executions in Iran in 2025
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Yeganeh executed in Semnan on September 17