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
- 9,221
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 9,221 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 3, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ashkan Asgari executed in Arak on November 3
NOVEMBER 3, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 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 - 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 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Isfahan on November 2
Moaven Mirjahani, Shahrokh Saeedkhani, Mohammad-Javad Karami
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
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, 2024IranDEATH 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 PENALTY
IRAN - 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