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
- 8,610
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 8,610 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
APRIL 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sajad Farahani executed in Arak on April 6
APRIL 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Malazadeh executed in Zanjan on April 5
APRIL 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Zahir Shamsi executed in Ahvaz on April 5
APRIL 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jamil Reshadat executed in Ahvaz on April 5
APRIL 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - UN broad investigations into violations and crimes in Iran
APRIL 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Motion of the European Parliament on executions in Iran
APRIL 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mansour and Mahmoud Mardani, Christian converts, sentenced to 4 years
“Propaganda against the regime through promoting Christianity”
APRIL 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 62nd Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
MARCH 31, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 58 executions in March
The month of Ramadan
- MARCH 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abbas Fatehi executed in Gorgan on March 29
MARCH 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Morteza Saadatpour Zeini and Mohsen Hedayat executed in Tabriz on March 29
MARCH 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yasser Roshani (Yaser Roshan) executed in Arak on March 29
MARCH 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A woman, Mahnaz Kakaei, and Ali Sufian executed in Isfahan on March 29
MARCH 26, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - NCRI report: 1,153 Executions in Persian Year 1403
A 42% Surge Compared to 1402
MARCH 26, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death Sentence of Hamid Hosseinnezhad Upheld
Kurdish Political Prisoner
- MARCH 25, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 61st week of the “No to Execution Tuesday” campaign
MARCH 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Olivier Grondeau released
MARCH 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hatam Shahpasandi executed in Boroujerd on March 17
245 esecuzioni dall'inizio dell'anno
MARCH 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 persons, not 3, executed in Urmia on March 16
Mojgan Azarpisheh, Kosar Ghorbani, Arshad Farzadband e Hamed Faraji
MARCH 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yaser Jahanbani executed in Hamedan on March 16
MARCH 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 women and a man executed in Urmia on March 16
Mojgan Azarpisheh, Kosar Bagherzadeh, and Arshad Farzadband
- MARCH 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Yaser Jahanbani executed in Hamedan on March 16
MARCH 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Latest UN Report: Deadly Repression of Kurds, Balochs, and Arabs in Iran
eport by Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran
- MARCH 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Faramarz Keyfari and Kourosh Zare executed in Rasht
On February 25 and March 16
- MARCH 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Tahmas Kalani executed in Nahavand on March 15
MARCH 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Heidar Safdari and Sohrab Niazi executed in Qazvin on March 15
MARCH 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Morteza Kazemzadeh and Mohammadreza Basiri executed in Semnan on March 13
- MARCH 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmad Yarmohammadi executed in Dorud on March 13
MARCH 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Majid Vahidi executed in Sari on March 12
232 executions in 2025
- MARCH 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hojjat Torkaman executed in Malayer on March 11