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 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Masoud Ghanbarzehi executed in Zahedan on September 7
SEPTEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Dariush Bahrami executed in Karaj on September 7
SEPTEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Taleb Tavakoli executed in Dezful on September 7
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sadegh Bahmani and Mojtaba Salemi executed in Tabriz on September 7
7 executions in Tabriz that day
SEPTEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahriar Dehvari executed in Babolsar on September 7
SEPTEMBER 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Further information on the execution of Najib Azarm in Tabriz on 7 September
SEPTEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Isfahan on September 6
Taher Rasoulpour, Mohammad Bikar, Moslem Salehkhani
SEPTEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehran Bahramian executed in Isfahan on September 6
A “Woman, Life, Freedom” proteste
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farzad Mohibi executed in Qazvin on September 6
SEPTEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yasin Afshari executed in Qom on September 6
SEPTEMBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Azad Moradi executed in Sanandaj on September 6
SEPTEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Bushehr on September 4
- SEPTEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ebrahim Safari executed in Yazd on September 4
- SEPTEMBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Yazd on September 4
Mohammad Salehi, Ebrahim Safari, Mohsen Amiri
SEPTEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Valiollah Avazpour executed in Gachsaran on September 3
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Qom on September 3
Mehrdad Iravani, Rouhollah Hakemi, Nezam Hakemi, Allahbakhsh Mirjahani
SEPTEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 6 men executed in Karaj on September 3
Habib Atayi, Reza Aghajani, Sajad Sadeghi, Naser… + 2 Unk
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - A.F. executed in unspecified prison on September 3
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abolfazl Asgari and … Darvishpour executed in Tabriz on September 3
SEPTEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rahman Ali Akbari executed in Kermanshah on September 3
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Seyed Kazem Mousavi executed in Rasht on September 3
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bijan Hosseinpanah executed in Zanjan on September 2
SEPTEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Houman Geravand executed in Karaj on September 2
SEPTEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Babaei executed in Sanandaj on 2 September
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jalal Moradi executed in Kermanshah on September 2
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mahan Rashidi and Yaghoub Derikvand executed in Aligudarz on September 2
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Bushehr on September 2
SEPTEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman 2 men executed in Zanjan on September 2
Gohar Taheri Aghdam, Bijan Hosseinpanah and Ahmad Alipour
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jalal Moradi executed in Kermanshah on September 2
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Naser Mahi-Dashti executed in Kerman on September 2