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
- 9,220
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 9,220 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 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Mashhad on August 5
Reza Sarparast, Davood Najibollahi, Bahman Piroozehi, and Mohammad Golestani
AUGUST 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farzad Yari executed in Malayer on August 5
AUGUST 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farzad Yari executed in Malayer on August 5
AUGUST 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 80th Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
- AUGUST 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Siamak Mohammadi-Pour executed in Khorramabad on August 4
- AUGUST 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamidreza Soroush executed in Nur on August 4
AUGUST 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Tabriz on August 4
Hesam Moloudi, Matin Shahbazzadeh-Moghadam, Enayat Samsari
AUGUST 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Davood Lajai executed in Mashhad on August 4
AUGUST 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 political prisoners sentenced to death
Mohammad Darvish Narouyi, Yassin Kabdani, Farhad Baranzehi, Omran Aghal
- AUGUST 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN 6 men executed in Karaj on August 3
Mohammad Golousi, Fariborz Haghi, Ali Hosseinpour, Reza Bakhtavar, Meysam Joudaki, and Sajad Pourdanesh
- AUGUST 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Iqbal Abdali executed in Ilam on August 3
AUGUST 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saber Azizpour executed in Khorramabad on August 3
- AUGUST 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 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