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 6, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamed Darvishi executed in Khorramabad on November 6
NOVEMBER 6, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mojtaba Ghasemi executed in Karaj (Ghezel-Hesar) on November 6
- NOVEMBER 6, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nasser Bekrzadeh sentenced to death for alleged ‘espionage for Israel’
Kurdish civilian
- NOVEMBER 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Yazd on November 5
Mohsen Nejadi Moghaddam + 2 Unk
- NOVEMBER 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 6 men executed in Mashhad on November 5
Mahmoud Shahraki, Mohammad-Reza Davar, Zaher Safari, Majid Ghadiri + 2 Unk
- NOVEMBER 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 unidentified individuals sentenced to death for espionage
- NOVEMBER 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Yaghoub Narouyi executed in Zahedan on November 5
- NOVEMBER 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Dariush Saeedi and Hamed Mehraban executed in Hamedan on November 5
NOVEMBER 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Aref Kamali executed in Jiroft on November 5
NOVEMBER 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Momeni and Ramin Kazem Aliloo executed in Urmia on November 4
NOVEMBER 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Arvin Ghahremani executed in Kermanshah on November 4
A young Iranian Jewish man
- NOVEMBER 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mansour Rastakhiz executed in Kahnuj on November 4
- NOVEMBER 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Alireza Jamshidi and Mohammadreza Sotoodeh executed in Shiraz on November 4
NOVEMBER 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yousef Ahmadi and Mansour Rastakhzi executed in Kahnuj on November 4
- NOVEMBER 3, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ashkan Asgari executed in Arak on November 3
- NOVEMBER 3, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Daryoush Saeedi executed in Hamedan on November 3
NOVEMBER 3, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ramin Kazem Alilu and Ali Momeni executed in Urmia on November 3
NOVEMBER 3, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Abbas Moghaddam executed in Karaj on November 3
- NOVEMBER 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Isfahan on November 2
Moaven Mirjahani, Shahrokh Saeedkhani, Mohammad-Javad Karami
- NOVEMBER 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Gholamali Shakerian executed in Ahvaz on November 2
NOVEMBER 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Soleiman Abbaspour, a possible child offender, was executed in Zanjan on November 2
NOVEMBER 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 161 prisoners executed in October
5 women
OCTOBER 31, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Isfahan on October 28 and 31
Kourosh Salehian, Amir Jahandar, and Reza Bidabadi
OCTOBER 31, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Binami executed in Naqadeh on October 31
OCTOBER 31, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Ekhlasi executed in Zahedan on October 31
OCTOBER 31, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamed Doyesti executed in Isfahan on October 31
OCTOBER 31, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abolfazl Shahbazi executed in Tabriz on October 31
OCTOBER 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj (Ghezel Hesar) on October 30
Abdullah Tajik, Mostafa Gholamzadeh, Mohammad Jalali and Saman Anbari
OCTOBER 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Salari executed in Jiroft on October 30
OCTOBER 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sardar Safarpour executed in Ahvaz on October 30