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
FEBRUARY 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rasoul Ashour executed in Isfahan on February 19
FEBRUARY 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Update: There would be 7 executions in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj on February 19
FEBRUARY 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Malek Parsa executed in Amol on February 19
FEBRUARY 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman and 1 man executed in Shiraz on February 18
Woman only identified as Bagherinejad, and Mehdi Iranian
FEBRUARY 18, 2025United KingdomDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Craig and Lindsay Foreman charged with espionage
British couple
FEBRUARY 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentence of Mehrab Abdollahzadeh goes to Supreme Court
Kurdish political prisoner
FEBRUARY 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yousef Kavarouyi executed in Kerman on February 18
FEBRUARY 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 56th Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
FEBRUARY 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Aliyari and Sadegh Nezakat executed in Qazvin and Neyshabur
On February 16 and 17
FEBRUARY 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 6 men executed in Isfahan on February 17
Ezzat Hosseini Doraki, Ali Es-haqi, Mohammad Shamseddin Arbab, Majid Baluch, Heydar Babaei and Burhan Wasim-Zehi
FEBRUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Milad Farahmandijou executed in Behbahan on February 16
- FEBRUARY 16, 2025United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - British couple arrested in Iran identified
Craig and Lindsay Foreman
FEBRUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Jokar executed in Shiraz on February 16
FEBRUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hengaw’s Statistical Report: 909 Executions in Iran in 2024
FEBRUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Farahani executed in Arak on February 16
FEBRUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Bahram Almasi executed in Tabriz on February 16
FEBRUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Pejman Bahramian hanged in Kermanshah in February
FEBRUARY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Kord executed in Ramhormoz on February 15
FEBRUARY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abbas Bameri executed in Birjand on February 15
FEBRUARY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Raei executed on February 15 in Birjand
FEBRUARY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Milad Attar executed in Dezful on February 12
FEBRUARY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sharifeh Mohammadi sentenced to death again
FEBRUARY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Younes Kheyrallahpour executed in Aligudarz on February 13
FEBRUARY 13, 2025United KingdomDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Two British citizens, a man and a woman, arrested on vague charges.
Yet another episode of ‘hostage taking’ by the Iranian regime.
FEBRUARY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Shabakhsh Pirsorani and Tayeb Javadi executed in Isfahan on February 12
FEBRUARY 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javad Kakavand executed in Malayer on February 12
FEBRUARY 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 55th Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
Hunger strike in in 35 Prisons Across Iran
- FEBRUARY 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahram Manafzadeh and Farhad Abdoli executed in Tabriz on February 9
FEBRUARY 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Pejman Soltani sentenced to death
Kurdish political prisoner, arrested during the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” movement
FEBRUARY 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Rezaei executed in Zanjan on February 8