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
JUNE 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Majid Mosayebi executed on June 22
On charges of Espionage for Israel, hours after strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites
JUNE 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Report on the first week of the Iran- Israel war
Hengaw special report
JUNE 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men execute in Tabriz on June 18
Hadi Ahmadian, Abbas Partovi, Mohammad Shokri
JUNE 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Haghverdi executed in Qom on June 18
JUNE 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Shiraz on June 17
Teimur Pouladvand, Nezam Moradi, Mahmoud Dehghan and Ali Akbar Younesi
- JUNE 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Esmail Fekri executed in Ghezel Hesar on June 16
On charges of espionage for Israel
JUNE 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Nazemi executed in Ahvaz on June 16
JUNE 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mahmoud Dehghan executed in Shiraz on June 16
- JUNE 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Javad Mohammadi executed in Khorramabad on June 16
- JUNE 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehdi Davoudi and Houshang Morovati executed in Yasui on June 16
- JUNE 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Yashar Amini executed in Yasuj on June 15
- JUNE 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Gonabad on June 15
- JUNE 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jafar Ezati (Ezzati) executed in Zanjan on June 15
- JUNE 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Faramarz … executed on June 14 in Kermanshah
JUNE 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Joghatay executed in Sabzevar on June 14
JUNE 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Any expression of joy at Israel's attacks will be prosecuted as a crime
JUNE 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Regime muzzles media with grim death penalty warning
JUNE 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - IHR and Hengaw: Warns of Execution of Defendants Accused of Espionage for Israel
- JUNE 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Vaezi executed in Semnan on June 13
- JUNE 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Vaezi executed in Semnan on June 13
- JUNE 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shapour Ashkani executed in Shushtar on June 12
JUNE 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Mojahed Kourkour Hanged in Ahvaz on June 11
JUNE 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Ghezel Hesar on June 11
Ardeshir Soltanabadi, Masoud Naseri, Sajad Moradian
- JUNE 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahin Karami executed in Ardabil on June 11
JUNE 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Five men executed in Ghezel Hesar on June 11
Massoud Naseri, Sajad Moradi Motlagh, Ardeshir Soltan Abadi, Hamed Hassani and Hatam Saeedi.
- JUNE 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Naghi Soufian executed in Ahar on June 11
- JUNE 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 9 men executed in undisclosed place and date
None of them identified
JUNE 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Peyman Jalalian executed in Isfahan on June 10
JUNE 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Rezaei executed in Arak on June 10
- JUNE 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sadegh Asgari executed in Arak on June 10