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 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 6 men executred in Zahedan on July 20
Abdoljalil Dorakzehi, Nematollah Shahnavazi, Nasir Shahbakhsh, ... Ghaljayi and two unidentified men
JULY 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 political prisoners sentenced to death
JULY 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Davoud Amani executed in Zanjan on July 19
JULY 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Parviz Sarlak executed in Aligudarz on July 19
- JULY 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Ahmadkhani executed in Aligudarz on July 19
JULY 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Gorgan on July 19
Alireza Eshtarak, Mohammad Eshtarak + Unk
JULY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 political prisoners sentenced to death
Massoud Jamei, Alireza Mardasi and Farshad Etemadifar
- JULY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abbas Ali Jahangiri executed in Sari on July 16
JULY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Rasht on July 16
Peyman Afshari, Hadi Garousi and Mehdi Babayi
JULY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Molan Abdolaziz Khani and Vahab Heidari executed in Qazvin on July 16
JULY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kianush Khosravi Siahbidi executed in Kermanshah on July 15
704 executions in Iran since the beginning of 2025 (at least)
JULY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamed Jalilian Executed in Kermanshah on July 15
JULY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Afrooz Kian-Arsi is serving her sentence
The artist was sentenced for a mosaic titled "Woman, Life, Freedom"
JULY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The 77th Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
- JULY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN Yaghoub Moradi executed in Gorgan on July 15
- JULY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ghasem Azizi executed in Birjand on July 14
- JULY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Javad Kazemi executed in Arak on July 14
- JULY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamid Yavari executed at Hamedan on July 13
JULY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalal Nazarbeigi executed in Hamedan on July 13
- JULY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mosaib Segvand executed in Khorramabad on July 13
JULY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ilia Khalifehzadeh executed in public on July 12
JULY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mirza executed in Malayer on July 12
JULY 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Lennart Monterlos, a Franco-German Citizen, arrested in Iran
JULY 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jafar Khoshkalam executed in Rasht on July 10
JULY 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Six Months On, No Word From Detained British Couple in Iran
Craig and Lindsay Foreman
- JULY 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Qom on July 10
JULY 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in public in Miandoab
JULY 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amin Shokripour Executed in Karaj on July 9
- JULY 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmadali Mahdinejad executed in Navahand on July 9
- JULY 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abdolhossein Jaberi and Saeed Mehrabi executed in Karaj Central on July 9