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
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
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Hashami executed in Miandoab
The Execution Leads to Revenge Killings
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Majid Hosseini executed in Ghezel Hesar on September 17
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman, 2 men executed in Sabzevar on September 17
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mostafa Pirabbasi executed in Sabzevar on September 17
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Fazel Sohrabi executed in Neishabur on September 17
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Meisagh Rezayi and Hossein Yaganeh executed in Semnan on September 17
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Farshad Bourkzehi executed in Gonabad on September 17
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehrdad Tajik executed in Shiraz on September 17
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Babak Shahbazi executed in Ghezel Hesar on September 17
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nadim Ashrafzadeh and Abdolqader Sargolzaei executed in Isfahan on September 17
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amir Mirabadi executed in Zanjan on September 17
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ghafoor Behboudi and Abdolsalam Mir Panjshir executed in Taybad on September 17
SEPTEMBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Parviz Yousefzehi executed in Gonabad on September 16
SEPTEMBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolsamad Salarzehi and Abdolmajid Barahouyi executed in Birjand on September 16
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Massoud Okhatizadeh and Akbar Emami executed in Ghezel Hesar on September 16
SEPTEMBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gholamreza Hariri and Nemat Khodabakhsh executed in Sari on September 16
SEPTEMBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Noormohammad Chegali + Unk executed in Dastgerd on September 16
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hojjat Goodarzi executed in Aligudarz on September 16
SEPTEMBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amir Hossein Hemmati and Unk. executed in Jiroft on September 15
SEPTEMBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mirza Vali Sotoudeh executed in Khorramabad on September 15
SEPTEMBER 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mojtaba Bozhabadi and Farshad Khosravi executed in Sabzevar on September 15, 2025