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
AUGUST 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amir Hosseinpour executed in Ilam on August 11
AUGUST 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Issa Mortazavi and Yaser Sogan executed in Khorramabad on 11 August
- AUGUST 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Seyed Ahmad Navabi executed in Jiroft on August 11
AUGUST 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hesam Salari executed in Saravan on August 10
AUGUST 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kiomars Fatehi executed in Zanjan on August 10
- AUGUST 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmadreza Torkashvand + Unk executed in Arak on August 10
- AUGUST 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmadreza Tarkashun executed in Arak on August 10
AUGUST 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Bahman Ejbari (Shibak) executed in Birjand on August 10
- AUGUST 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bahman Ijbaari executed in Birjand on August 10
AUGUST 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Bahador Elyasi and Soleiman Naseri Khez executed in Kermanshah on August 9
- AUGUST 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Tayeb Mahmoudi executed in Ahvaz on August 9
- AUGUST 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sajad Habibi executed in Kermanshah on August 9
AUGUST 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kulthum Akbari who fatally poisoned 11 husbands faces execution
- AUGUST 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hashem Sorkh and Rahman Jahangiri executed in Yazd on August 8
- AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Isfahan on August 6
Mojtaba Izadi, Reza Sharifzadeh, Naser Javadi, Ali Rajaei, Hossein Rostami
AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoners Rouzbeh Vadi and Mehdi Asgharzadeh executed in Ghezel Hesar on August 6
- AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ehsan Saeedi and Manouchehr Saeedi executed in Gorgan on August 6
AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farhad Tavakoli and Aryo Jalali executed in Karaj on August 6
- AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Gholam Saedian and Mostafa Mirahmadi executed in Yasuj on August 6
AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan-Ali Zinizadeh executed in Tabriz on August 6
- AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Omid Azizian executed in Mashhad on August 6
- AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hassan Shahverdi executed in Borujerd on August 6
AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Amoosi (Ejbaari) executed in Mashhad on August 6
- AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Kamran Amraei + Unk executed in Kerman on August 6
- AUGUST 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Death Sentence for Babak Shahbazi Upheld
On charges of espionage for Israel
- AUGUST 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Shokat executed in Saveh on August 5
AUGUST 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Craig Foreman and Lindsay Foreman Remain Incommunicado in Tehran Prisons
British Couple Held in Iran on Espionage Charges
- AUGUST 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jahanshah Iravani executed in Semnan on August 5
AUGUST 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Mashhad on August 5
Reza Sarparast, Davood Najibollahi, Bahman Piroozehi, and Mohammad Golestani
- AUGUST 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farzad Yari executed in Malayer on August 5