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
SEPTEMBER 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Morteza Shah Esmaili and Nasim Narouyi executed in Yazd on September 19
SEPTEMBER 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political Prisoners Behrooz Ehsani and Mehdi Hasani Sentenced to Death
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Secret Execution of 4 men and 2 Women in Qazvin
In unspecified data, in August
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men were executed in Shiraz on September 18
Shahin Salami, Sepehr Nourani, Taher Arezoumand and Kamran Heidari
SEPTEMBER 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abbas Karimi is scheduled to be hanged on 3 October
Unable to come up with the 1.5-million euro blood money
SEPTEMBER 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yasin Darvishi executed in Gorgan on September 18
SEPTEMBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamidreza Hassanzehi Sani executed in Bandar Abbas on September 17
SEPTEMBER 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 34th Week of “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign Begins Across 21 Iranian Prisons
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Shiraz on September 16
Amir Naderzadeh, Sajad Fadayi, Abdollah Abdolsamad, Behzad Bagheri and Mobasher …
SEPTEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN -messaggio dalla prigione di Evin Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi urges UN to take action against gender apartheid in Iran
a message from Evin prison
SEPTEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on September 16
Abdoljalil Ehsani, Yahya Zargari, Mehdi Jahanpour
SEPTEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Honoring the 2nd Anniversary of the 2022 Iran Uprising
SEPTEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Safari executed in Isfahan on September 16
SEPTEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on September 16
Abdoljalil Ehsani, Yahya Zargari, Mehdi Jahanpour
SEPTEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alimorad Hassanzadeh executed in Gorgan on September 16
SEPTEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Jahanpour was 16 when committed the crime
One of the three men executed in Shiraz on September 16
SEPTEMBER 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Second Anniversary of the State-Sanctioned Killing of Jina Amini
Security Forces Prevent Jina's Family from Visiting Her Grave
SEPTEMBER 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sasan Ben and Saeed Khajeh Heydari executed in Shiraz on September 15
SEPTEMBER 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - NGOs’ Joint Statement Highlights Continuing Impunity for Iranian Regime’s 1988 Massacre
And Ongoing Human Rights Violations
SEPTEMBER 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 34 female prisoners hunger strike in Iran for anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death
SEPTEMBER 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Arastoo Safarghomi and Rasoul Pourmajed executed in Tabriz on September 15
SEPTEMBER 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sajjad Bandegi and Abdulrahman Tajik executed in Karaj on September 11
SEPTEMBER 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Morteza Yousefi executed on September 11 in Nowshahr
SEPTEMBER 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Behnam Bagheri executed in Dastgerd on September 11
SEPTEMBER 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mousa Bakhshi and Farzad Rashidi executed in Rasht on September 11
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN Mansour Salari executed in Jiroft on September 10
SEPTEMBER 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mostafa Fashi executed in Kermanshah on September 10
SEPTEMBER 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kiumars Alayi executed in Qazvin on September 10
SEPTEMBER 9, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 6 men executed in Zahedan
Saeed Hassanzahi, … Roudini, Noor-Mohammad Noori (Noorzahi), Farzad Sanchouli + 2 unk
SEPTEMBER 9, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Feizollah Hosseinpour and Soleiman Ghahremani executed in Miandoab on September 9