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
- 8,611
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 8,611 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
JUNE 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Behnam Ghafari executed in Yasuj on June 3
JUNE 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Naser Nabizadeh executed in Urmia on June 3
Or June 2
JUNE 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Majid Behzadi executed in Manujan on June 3
JUNE 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shoaib Abdulhaq Mohammadi executed in Taybad on June 3
JUNE 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gholi Faramarzi executed in Tabriz on June 3
- JUNE 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Kheradmand executed in Ghezel Hesar on 2 June
- JUNE 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - In May, more than 5 executions per day
157 according to Hrana, 163 to Hengaw, 174 to HoC
JUNE 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nadim Davoudi executed in Kahnouj on June 2
575 executions in Iran since the beginning of 2025
JUNE 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Navid Hedavand Khani and Naeem Naseri executed in Hamedan on June 2
JUNE 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iman Sabeghi executed in Kahnouj on June 2
JUNE 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Ghezel Hesar on June 2
Alireza Shahbazi, Ali Karami Nasr, Ali Abbasi
JUNE 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 9 executions in Ghezel Hesar on on June 2
Ali Karami Nasr, Alireza Shahbazi, Ali Abbas-Moghaddam, Sajad Nabizadeh, Yasin Aghaei, Nazir Mohammad, Behzad..., + 2 unidentified
- JUNE 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Amin Rastegari executed in Semnan on June 2
- JUNE 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Habib Almasi and Jebreal Hashemzadeh, two cousins, executed in Isfahan on June 2
- JUNE 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahmirza Rahmati executed in Khorramabad on June 1
- JUNE 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jomaa Narouei executed in Zahedan on June 1
JUNE 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Lejei and Fakhrollah Shiruzehi executed in Bam on June 1
JUNE 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Mansouri executed in Kerman on June 1
- JUNE 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahriar Khalafi executed in Qom on June 1
JUNE 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Karim Shah Mohammadi executed in Qom on June 1
JUNE 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Masoumeh Karbakhsh Executed in Kerman on June 1
- MAY 31, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Death sentence for political prisoner Mohammad-Amin Mahdavi Shayesteh upheld
- MAY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Amin Asadi executed in Isfahan on May 28
MAY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Pedram Madani executed in Karaj on May 28
MAY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ehsan Hosseinzehi executed in Khash on May 28
MAY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahram Abbaszadeh and Alireza Ahmadi executed in Isfahan on May 28
MAY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men, including a juvenile offendere, executed in Karaj on May 28
Amir Hossein Mohammadi, Majid Bahrami, Seyed Abbas Laki Khosrokhani, Hojjat Havasi Geravand, and Afshin Azizi
MAY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Hadi Farhadi executed in Shiraz on May 28
MAY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Taleb Ahmadpour executed in Ahvaz on May 28
- MAY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Shahmoradi and Farhoud Hosseini executed in Kermanshah on May 28