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 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 unidentified men amputated of hands in Isfahan
JUNE 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Murad Rezaei executed in Zanjan on June 10
JUNE 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolsamad Barahui executed in Iranshahr on June 9
JUNE 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolbaset Shahdadzehi executed in Zahedan on June 9
JUNE 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Karim Hemmati and Hamzeh Yari executed in Karaj on June 9
JUNE 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saman Khorrami executed in Karaj on June 9
- JUNE 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mostafa Hajibabaei executed in Malayer on June 9
JUNE 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Mirbalochzehi executed in Iranshahr on June 8
- JUNE 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Davoud Alinajad executed in Arak on June 8
JUNE 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shirzad Fahimi executed in Shirvan on June 8
JUNE 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ayoub Samadi and Mojtaba Taheri executed in Shiraz on June 8
JUNE 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Heidarzadeh executed in Maragheh on June 8
JUNE 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rahim Karimi executed in Ghaen on June 8
JUNE 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Mashhad on June 7
Zobeid Ali Maleki, Yashar Haghdoust, Jafar Veisi and a man only identified as Salim
- JUNE 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Yaser Amini and Mehdi Moghadam executed in Qazvin on June 6
- JUNE 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Afshin Yari executed in Malayer on June 2
- JUNE 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmadullah Esmaeili executed in Ghezel Hesar on June 4
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 PENALTY
IRAN - Shoaib Abdulhaq Mohammadi executed in Taybad on June 3
JUNE 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gholi Faramarzi executed in Tabriz on June 3
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 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - In May, more than 5 executions per day
157 according to Hrana, 163 to Hengaw, 174 to HoC