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
JANUARY 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amjad Amini, Jina Amini's father, accused of "Propaganda against the state"
For supporting Pakhshan Azizi
JANUARY 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - EU Parliament adopts resolution condemning Iran's use of death penalty
- JANUARY 23, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - European Parliament calls to end Iran's 'hostage diplomacy'
A resolution condemning Iran’s detention of European Union citizens
JANUARY 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Saveh on January 22
JANUARY 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Lawyer of Pakhshan Azizi: Execution Temporarily Halted
JANUARY 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Sasouli executed in Yazd on January 22
- JANUARY 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Omid Besharatlou and Javad Jaberi executed in Karaj (Ghezel Hesar) on January 22
JANUARY 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Four prisoners executed in Yazd on January 22
Ahmad Sasouli + 3 Unk
- JANUARY 22, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Naser Zandipour and Nader Minaeifar executed in Yazd on January 22
- JANUARY 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign Marks Its 1st Anniversary
- JANUARY 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Karim Faridi executed in Zanjan on January 21
JANUARY 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Online Conference on the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
With the participation of Hands off Cain
JANUARY 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hojat Shahriari executed in Borazjan on January 21
JANUARY 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sardar Mohammad executed in Bandar Abbas on January 21
- JANUARY 21, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saeed Diani executed in Isfahan on January 21
JANUARY 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Online conference in support of the #NoToExecutionTuesdays campaign
JANUARY 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gholamreza Seyed Mohammadkhani and Aref Azizi executed in Mashhad on January 20
JANUARY 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Court sentences pop star Tataloo to death for blasphemy
- JANUARY 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abbas Mohammadi executed in Arak on January 19
- JANUARY 19, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Bahram Valipour and Hossein Farhadi executed in Gorgan on January 19
JANUARY 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mass Executions Behind The Elimination of Iranian Judges
Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghise
- JANUARY 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Two Iranian supreme court judges shot dead
Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghisseh
JANUARY 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saman Yasin arrives in Germany
Iranian-Kurdish rapper once on death row
JANUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Third man executed in Khorrambad on January 16
Mohammad Amiri-Bahravand
JANUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rashid Zeinabi and Saman Davoudian executed in Khorramabad on January 16
JANUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saiwan Yaqoubi executed in Sanandaj on January 16
- JANUARY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on January 15
Farrokh Nasiri, Mansour Qolizadeh, and Payam Cheraghi
JANUARY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - French Citizen Olivier Grondeau Imprisoned in Iran
3rd Frenche citized deteined in Iran on vague charges
JANUARY 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 51st week of the “No to Executions on Tuesdays” campaign
Hunger strikes in 34 female and male prisons
JANUARY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - IHRS Year-End report. Iran Executed More than 1000 in 2024.