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
AUGUST 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saber Azizpour executed in Khorramabad on August 3
AUGUST 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rasoul Arabi executed in Arak on August 3
AUGUST 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men 1 woman executed in Khorramabad on August 3
Hassan Ramazani, Mehdi Jouzian Gavbaze, Saber Azizpour + Unk woman
AUGUST 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Kermanshah on August 3
Fariborz Haqi (Haghi), Moslem Jalali, and Heydar Mohammad
- AUGUST 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Abakhti executed in Karaj on August 3
Seventh man executed in Karaj on 3 August identified as Mohammad Abakhti
- AUGUST 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 7 men executed in Karaj on August 3
6 executions in Karaj Central on the same day were already reported
AUGUST 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sajad Zare executed in Gachsaran on August 2
- AUGUST 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Fouad Azar executed in Yasuj on August 2
JULY 31, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nahid Jokar executed in Shiraz on July 31
- JULY 31, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mahtab Bayati and Ali Ashraf Khani executed in Mashhad on July 31
JULY 31, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on July 31
788 executions since the beginning of 2025
- JULY 31, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Asadollah Sagvandi executed in Ahvaz on July 31
- JULY 30, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Salehi executed in Shiraz on July 30
JULY 30, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Prisoner Executed in Public in Semnan Province on July 30
JULY 30, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Amini executed in Ilam on July 30
JULY 30, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jaber Salami and Abdolzaher Faghirdadi executed in Qom on July 30
JULY 30, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amputation carried out on 3 men
Hadi Rostami, Mehdi Sharifian and Mehdi Shahivand
JULY 30, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yousef Amiri executed in Tabriz on July 30
JULY 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Navid Rostami executed in Kermanshah on July 29
766 executions in Iran in 2025
- JULY 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nazir Mohammad + Unk executed in Birjand on July 29
JULY 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Shabestan executed in Sari on July 29
- JULY 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Rikani executed in Ahvaz on July 29
- JULY 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Arash Mohammadi executed in Nahavand on July 29
JULY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Isa Narouyi and Amir Ghanbari executed in Minab on July 28
- JULY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ismail Hajivand executed in Malayer on July 28
JULY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran Says Executions Limited To ‘Most Severe Crimes’
After UN Criticism
JULY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - UN says Iran executions surge ‘deeply disturbing’
- JULY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sadeghollah Verdi executed in Tabriz on July 28
JULY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yehuda Hekmati, American-Jewish citizen, arrested
One of the two American-Jewish citizens recently detained in Iran
JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoners Behrooz Ehsani Eslamlou and Mehdi Hasani executed in Karaj on July 27