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
- 9,221
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 9,221 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 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Vaezi executed in Semnan on June 13
JUNE 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 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
JUNE 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 unidentified men amputated of hands in Isfahan
- JUNE 10, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 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 PENALTY
IRAN - 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