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
JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Mirforoughi executed in Isfahan on July 27
- JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamzeh Moradian executed in Khorramabad on July 27
756 executions in 2025
- JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saeed Kashani and Naser Nazari Tehrani executed in Karaj on July 27
JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Mirforughi and Saleh Hatami executed in Isfahan on July 27
JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Special forces strormed Ghezel Hesar prison
JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Akbari executed in Arak on July 27
JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mahmoud Shirbeigi executed in Qom on July 27
JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Kashani and Naser Nazari Tehrani executed in Ghezel Hesar on July 27
JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Shiraz on July 27
Ahmad Mahdavi, Armin Gerayi, Saber Yari + 1 unidentified man
JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Masoumeh Asgari, Masoumeh Nassaji, and Sayeh Seydal transferred to solitary confinement
The political prisoners protested detention conditions
- JULY 26, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abolfazl Shakeri executed in Zanjan on July 26
- JULY 26, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khodayar Ahmadkhani executed in Taybad on July 26
- JULY 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jahangir Fouladi executed in Zanjan on July 24
JULY 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ashkan Mehdipanah and Mehdi Heidari executed in Hamedan on July 24
JULY 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yaghoub Derakhshan, a political prisoner, sentenced to death
JULY 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Peyman Mohammad Rezaei executed in Buin Zahra on July 24
- JULY 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Houshang Mahmoudian executed in Shiraz on July 23
JULY 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ruhollah Arab executed in Semnan on July 23
- JULY 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saman Heydari executed in Shiraz on July 23
JULY 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Heydari Tarkashvand executed in Hamedan on July 23
JULY 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on July 23
Behzad Gholamzadeh, Latif Karegar, Saman Heydari
- JULY 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jabbar Alishahi and Ashkan Mahdipanah executed in Hamedan on July 23
JULY 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Behnam Samalpour Baba Ahmadi executed in Yazd on July 23
JULY 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Morteza Khorrami executed in Kermanshah on July 22
- JULY 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Afrayi Mardakheh executed in Rasht on July 22
- JULY 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Parsa executed in Aligudarz on July 22
- JULY 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khodabakhsh Sepehri executed in Rasht on July 21
- JULY 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 7 unidentified prisoners executed in Yazd on July 21
JULY 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman 9 men executed in in Yazd on July 21
Atefeh Amini, Reza Akhiri, Ali Momeni, Bahram Seyed Nasiri, Amirhossein Hassan Khani (Hassankhani), Farkhreddin Raei and four unidentified men
- JULY 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad-Javad Zare executed in Arak on July 21