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 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - On February 8, a woman who partially undressed on a street in Tehran was arrested
The arrest of three other individuals in connection with the incident
FEBRUARY 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kurdish political prisoner Pakhshan Azizi is at imminent risk of execution
After her appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court
FEBRUARY 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A woman, Mahtab Ghazizadeh, executed in Sari on February 6
265 women have been executed in Iran since 2007
FEBRUARY 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Golmohammad Gorgij and Abdulhamid Kohkan executed in Gorgan on January 5
FEBRUARY 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Ahmadi and Saeed Gholami executed in Kermanshah on February 5
- FEBRUARY 5, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Salman Hamdard executed in Borujerd on February 5
FEBRUARY 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Monthly report on women’s rights
20 women activists arrested, three sentenced, 18 women killed
FEBRUARY 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Manouchehr Fallah has been sentenced to death
A Gilak political prisoner held in Lakan Prison in Rasht
- FEBRUARY 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hafez Bani Asadi executed in Mashhad on February 3
FEBRUARY 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hasani transferred to political prisoners’ ward
Following extensive domestic and international protests
- FEBRUARY 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamidreza Shahmoradi executed in Khorramabad on February 3
FEBRUARY 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Afshin Amiri executed in Kermanshah on February 2
FEBRUARY 2, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A letter from a brave female prisoner
FEBRUARY 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 87 executions in January
FEBRUARY 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Maryam Kaviani executed in Khorramabad on February 1
a Lor woman from Khorramabad
FEBRUARY 1, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ehsan Jamshidi executed in Sari on February 1
JANUARY 30, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Zaboli executed in Yasuj on January 30
JANUARY 30, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - IHR Calls for the Revocation of 6 Political Prisoners’ Death Penalty
Babak Alipour, Vahid Baniamerian, Pouya Ghobadi, Abolhassan Montazer and Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar and Mohammad Taghavi
- JANUARY 30, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehdi Salehzadeh and Abdollah Khademi executed in Isfahan on January 30
JANUARY 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Shiraz
Hamid Fanaei, Amir Fanaei, Rasoul Minaei, Khosrow Abbaszadeh, and Mohammad Ali Heidari
JANUARY 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Female Prisoners in Evin
Report on 76 female political and security prisoners
JANUARY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 53rd Week of Hunger Strikes in 34 Prisons
Year 2 of “No to Execution Tuesdays”
- JANUARY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Radmand executed in Rasht “about a month ago”
information received by Hengaw on Feb. 28
JANUARY 27, 2025ItalyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - International Appeal to save Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani
Two political prisoners whoi coulod be executed within hours
- JANUARY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: INTERNATIONAL APPEAL TO SAVE BEHROUZ EHSANI AND MEHDI HASSANI
Two political prisoners who could be executed within hours
JANUARY 26, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Karaj (Ghezel-Hesar) on January 26
Farzad Mirzaei, Farhad Ferdini, and Samad Hashemi
- JANUARY 26, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamid Jahangiri executed in Malayer on January 26
Already 81 executions in 2025
JANUARY 25, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hojjat Panahi executed in Rasht on January 25
JANUARY 25, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran accuses EU of ‘meddling’ after parliament condemned death penalties
- JANUARY 25, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mostafa Aminnejad and Ebrahim … executed on January 25
In Shiraz and Nishapur