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
DECEMBER 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Molakazemi executed in Semnan on December 15
DECEMBER 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Morad Dehghani Executed in Nahavand on December 15
DECEMBER 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 more executions in Yazd on December 15
Karim Eslami and Najaf Rahmani
- DECEMBER 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hassan Ebrahimi Geravand executed in Malayer on December 14
DECEMBER 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Koulivand executed in Arak on December 14
DECEMBER 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamed Basirat and Ali Akbar Gharib Sarduiyee executed in Roudbar on December 9 and 14
- DECEMBER 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abdolkarim Shokati Timouri executed in Mashhad on December 12
- DECEMBER 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farzad Khorami and Kheirollah Amiri executed in Shiraz on December 12
- DECEMBER 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahrokh Fahimi executed in Neishabur Prison on December 12
- DECEMBER 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sajjad Azizi and Ebrahim Valizadeh executed in Miandoab on December 12
DECEMBER 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Khandan, husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, arrested
- DECEMBER 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Shah Achakzahi, and Rahim Achakzehi executed in Mashhad on December 12
DECEMBER 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gholam Roosta (Rousta) executed in Shiraz on December 12
870 executions from the beginning of 2024
- DECEMBER 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Majid Esmaeili executed in Isfahan on December 12
- DECEMBER 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 9 men executed in Karaj (Ghezel Hesar) on December 11
- DECEMBER 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Symbolic Concert in Caravanserai
Legal Action Against Parastoo Ahmadi and Crew
DECEMBER 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Supreme Court Overturns Death Sentence of Abbas (Mojahed) Korkor
DECEMBER 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 10 men executed in Karaj (Ghezel Hesar) on December 11.
Hrana (and HoC) already gave the news, speaking of “only” 9 executions.
- DECEMBER 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohsen Barzegar executed in Khorramabad on December 11
- DECEMBER 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Qarchak Prison Report: Hell for Women and Children
To mark World Human Rights Day (10 December)
- DECEMBER 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Qom on December 10
Abdulmahdi Rashadmiri, Saeed Motiei (Moti) and Asghar Ramazani
- DECEMBER 9, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Zahedan on December 9
Omid Hosseinzayi, Khodabakhsh Ghanbarzehi (Barahi), and … Rakhshani
DECEMBER 9, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Morteza Ghasemi executed in Isfahan on December 9
- DECEMBER 9, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Bahrami-Fard executed in Dezful on December 9
DECEMBER 9, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran’s failed assassination attempt on Shir-Ahmad Shirani
Haalvsh News Outlet editor
DECEMBER 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdulghafour Razmdideh Rigi executed in Birjand on December 8
DECEMBER 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farhad Atashzadeh executed in Kashan on December 8
- DECEMBER 7, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jaber Ansari and Ashkan Fathi executed in Isfahan on December 7
DECEMBER 7, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ameneh Alipour, a woman, executed in Zanjan on December 7
DECEMBER 6, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Report on situation of political prisoner Shiva Esmaili