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
OCTOBER 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran cuts off fingers of two brothers in Urmia on October 29
Shahab and Mehrdad Teimouri convicted of theft
OCTOBER 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Marevatali Karami executed in Karaj (Central) on October 29
655 executions in Iran in 2024
OCTOBER 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj (Central) on October 29
Mohammad Nedaei, Ali Akbar (Mohsen) Akhayer, Akbar Khorram Taj and Morovat-Ali Karami
OCTOBER 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Akbar Khalili executed in Karaj (Central) on October 29
OCTOBER 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mostavafi and Hossein Ali Maleki executed in Qom on October 29
OCTOBER 28, 2024GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jamshid Sharmahd executed on October 28 at an undisclosed location
A German-Iranian political prisoner kidnapped from the UAE
- OCTOBER 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Javad Ahmadian executed in Ahvaz on October 28
OCTOBER 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Narges Mohammadi Transferred from Evin Prison to Hospital
OCTOBER 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Saberi executed in Isfahan on October 28
OCTOBER 27, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mansour Hadadi and Esmail Shehbakhsh executed in Birjand on October 22 and 27
OCTOBER 27, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khaled Chenari and Abdolnabi Kalani executed in Dezful on October 27
OCTOBER 27, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Taher Ganj Khanlou and Mohammadreza Nemati executed in Zanjan on October 27
OCTOBER 27, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - List of 61 Political Prisoners on Death Row in Iran
OCTOBER 27, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Shooli executed in Gachsaran on October 27
OCTOBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj (Central) on October 23
Not identified
OCTOBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Armin Aghcheli executed in Gorgan on October 23
- OCTOBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Karaj (Ghezel Hesar) on October 23
Salam Babakhan Jafari, Mohammad Koushki, Arman Naserzadeh, and two unidentified Afghan nationals
- OCTOBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hassan Dorostkar and Soleiman Malekinejad executed in Maragheh on October 21 and 23
OCTOBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammadreza Haji Khani and Mehran Soltani executed in Zanjan on October 23
OCTOBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Razavi Khaleghabadi executed on October 23 in Karaj (Ghezel-Hesar)
OCTOBER 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Cheraghi executed in Qorveh on 22 October
OCTOBER 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahin Dehghani executed in Malayer on October 22
- OCTOBER 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ayoub Sangari and Abdolgharib Maleki executed in Qom on October 22
OCTOBER 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Farhadzadeh and Hamid Chatrsimabeh executed in Jiroft on October 21
OCTOBER 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Bahman Sheikh-Hosseini executed in Birjand on October 20
OCTOBER 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman 4 men executed in Tabriz on October 20
Ms Nasrin Firoozi, Siamak Mulaii (Molaei), Hassan Yousefi, Mohammad Amin Noorafkan (Nourafkan), and Mohammad …
OCTOBER 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Saber (Saberi) executed in Malayer on October 20
- OCTOBER 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Abbasi executed in Rasht on October 19
- OCTOBER 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Javad Ebrahimi and Behzad Ghaffari (Ghafari) executed in Tabriz on October 19
- OCTOBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nourmorad Garavand and … Sanjari executed in Qazvin on October 17