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
MAY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Akbar Ansari executed in Isfahan on May 15
MAY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdullah ... executed in Zabol on 15 May
MAY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hafizeh Baluch Zehi executed in Tehran on May 15
17th woman executed in Iran in 2025
- MAY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jafar Ghorbani executed in Isfahan on May 15
MAY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Moshir Osmanzadeh executed in Urmia on May 14
MAY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Miri and Sajjad Moradi executed in Karaj on May 14
MAY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Soleimani executed in Shiraz on May 14
MAY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Ebrahim Esfandiari executed in Mashhad on May 14
MAY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gholamabbas Cheraghian executed in Karaj on May 14
MAY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Naeem Danesh executed in Isfahan on May 14
MAY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on May 14
Naser Hamidi, Isa Ahmadi, Hadi Soleimani
MAY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Reza Sabzi executed in Malayer on May 13
16 at time of crime
- MAY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Behrouz Baharvand executed in Khorramabad on May 13
MAY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mahtab Amiri, a woman, executed in Shiraz on May 13
MAY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Joghatay Executed in Gonabad on May 13
- MAY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unnamed prisoner executed in Karaj on May 13
MAY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 68th Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
MAY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehran Nasri Zar executed in Karaj on May 12
MAY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman, 2 men executed in Gorgan on May 12
Mahboobeh Khosrow-Nejad, Firooz (Erfan) Aliyari, Safa Qaradashi
- MAY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jalil Azizi executed in Arak on May 12
- MAY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Kourosh Jalili executed in Karaj on May 12
MAY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mahmoud Hojatzadeh executed in Isfahan on May 12
427 executions in Iran nel 2025
MAY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Arak on May 12
Mohammad Abdi, Nemat Pirizali and Jalil Azizi
MAY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Abolhosseini and Asrar Amani executed in Shiraz on May 12
MAY 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Fereydoun Mohammadi and Mohammad-Ali Miri executed in Zahedan on May 11
MAY 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran sentences another political prisoner to death: Ehsan Faridi
- MAY 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Miyaneh on May 11
- MAY 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Alireza Sedighi executed in Shahroud on May 11
MAY 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javad Haghi executed in Yazd on May 11
MAY 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rouhollah Moradiani and Maziar Karimi executed in Karaj on May 7