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
- 8,611
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 8,611 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
NOVEMBER 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amrollah Dehghan executed in Shiraz on November 20
NOVEMBER 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kazem Heidari executed in Isfahan on November 20
NOVEMBER 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mostafa Souri executed in Kermanshah on November 20
NOVEMBER 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shirali Tarkeshband executed in Rasht on November 20
NOVEMBER 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sirus Jafari executed in Rasht on November 20
NOVEMBER 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Soleiman Vaziri executed in Gonbad-e Kavus on November 19
- NOVEMBER 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Safa Hosseini executed in Gonbad-e Kavus on November 19
NOVEMBER 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kianush Keifari executed in Rasht on November 19
- NOVEMBER 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohsen Fayazi and Omid Javedan executed in Esfarayen on November 19
NOVEMBER 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Roshanak Malai-Alishah remains detained amid uncertainty about her condition
NOVEMBER 18, 2024GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - German lawmakers sponsor 4 Iranian protesters on death row
Tobias B. Bacherle, Oliver Kaczmarek, Anne Monika Spallek, Lisa-Kristin Kapteinat
NOVEMBER 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khodarahim Popalzei executed in Bandar Abbas on November 18
NOVEMBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mostafa Molayie executed in Khorramabad on November 17
- NOVEMBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Faraj Sarmadi executed in Zanjan on November 17
NOVEMBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rahim Faqiri and Parviz Barahoui executed in Birjand on November 17
NOVEMBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Another man executed in Birjand on 17 November. Not identified
- NOVEMBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahrouz Alimorad executed in Ardabil on November 17
NOVEMBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahrouz Alimorad executed in Ardabil on November 17
NOVEMBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Bamri executed in Kahnuj on November 17
NOVEMBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Yarmohammadi executed in Hamedan on November 17
- NOVEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sajad Karami executed in Isfahan on November 16
NOVEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ghafar Akbari died after severe torture on November 16
NOVEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Gharibi, a political prisoner, set himself on fire on November 16, 2024
- NOVEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehdi Gilani executed in Lakan on November 16
NOVEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Gilani and Mohammad Hossein Naderi executed in Rasht on November 16
NOVEMBER 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amanj Azizi executed in Urmia on November 15
755 executions in Iran in 2024
NOVEMBER 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Kardel executed in Amol on November 14
- NOVEMBER 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmad Alizadeh executed in Karaj (Ghezel-Hesar) on November 13
He was previously hanged for 28 seconds before being resuscitated
- NOVEMBER 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 6 men sentenced to death
In the “Ekbatan Case”
- NOVEMBER 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 1 woman, 6 men executed in Karaj (Ghezel-Hesar) on November 13
Unk woman + Khaled Tajik, Ahmad Alizadeh, Saman Bozorgi, Hamzeh Tarkashvand, Jafar Rastgar, Mohsen Moradi