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 9, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolkarim Habibi executed in Kahnui on September 9
SEPTEMBER 9, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - On behalf of Pakhshan Azizi
Kurdish Woman Activist sentenced to death
SEPTEMBER 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - UN Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman Targeted by Iranian Regime After Human Rights Report
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN Saber Jamali executed in Hamedan on September 1
SEPTEMBER 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Nazerifar executed in Neyshabur on September 1
SEPTEMBER 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Danesh and Akbar Zandi executed in Shiraz on September 1
SEPTEMBER 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Parviz Narouyi executed in Kahnuj on September 1
- AUGUST 31, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammadreza Abbaszade executed in Zanjan on August 31
AUGUST 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sirwan Abubakri executed in Mahabad on August 29
AUGUST 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Meisam Hosseinkhani executed in Khorramabad on August 28
AUGUST 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Isfahan on August 28
Asad Khosravi, Milad Ali Mohammadi, Emad Motevalian and Rafi Abdolbari
AUGUST 27, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 68 Organisations Declare Support for “No Death Penalty Tuesdays”
- AUGUST 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Fahim … executed in Isfahan on August 24
AUGUST 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Barkatali Sanjarani executed in Zahedan on August 26
AUGUST 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amirreza Ajam Akrami executed in public in Shahroud on August 26
AUGUST 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Tabriz on August 26
Shapour Hosseini, Irfan Abdolazizi, Mohebollah… e Moshref…
AUGUST 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abbas Rashidi executed in Qazvin on August 24
AUGUST 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Abbasi executed in Nahavand on August 22
AUGUST 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Khaled Jahangiri executed in Tabriz on August 22
AUGUST 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Daghestani executed in Urmia on August 21
AUGUST 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The Continuation of the "No to Execution Tuesdays" Campaign in 18 Prisons Across the Country
Thirty Weeks of Resistance Against Executions
- AUGUST 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehdi Piri and Mazaher Ayouzi (Eyvazi) executed in Zanjan on August 19
- AUGUST 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Yazd at an unspecified date
- AUGUST 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Karami-Zadeh and Esmaiel Jawadi executed in Karaj on August 19
AUGUST 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Yazd on August 19
Ansar Eftekhareddin, Mahmoud Salim, Abdolraouf Shehbakhsh, Abdolrahman Damani + Unk.
AUGUST 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 43 Human Rights Organisations Against Crackdown in Evin Prison
AUGUST 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abbas A’laei Aqblagh and Ali Azmoon executed in Tabriz on August 18
AUGUST 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on August 17
Yousef Kazemzadeh, Ali Salimi and Heydar (Haider) Arab
AUGUST 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Peymanollah Veysi executed in Sanandaj on August 15
AUGUST 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj on August 14
Behrouz Vafayi, Saeed Niazi (Ali Niazi), Naser Shafiei and unidentified Afghan man