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
MAY 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Bayazidi executed in Isfahan on May 5
- MAY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Soraya Mohammadi executed in Karaj on April 24
MAY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Maybe the woman identifies as Shahnaz was not executed
MAY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yaghoub Amiri executed in Ardabil on May 2
198 executions in 2024
MAY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Tabriz on May 2
Mehdi Habibi, Saeed Ranjdoust, and Saber Aminabadi
MAY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Rasoul Khoshkar executed in Tabriz on May 2
Three other executions were already known
MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Anwar Khezri Executed in Karaj on May 1
A Kurdish religious prisoner
MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Ashraf Khani executed in Kermanshah on May 1
- MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 more men executed in Karaj on May 1
arzad Geravand, Majid Barati, Reza Shir-Zahi and Majid Hajbari
- MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmad Heyrati executed in Shiraz on May 1
MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nasir Hariri executed in Qazvin on May 1
MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khosro Babavaldini executed in Kermanshah on May 1
MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Laveh, a Kurdish singer, arrested on May 1
For criticizing authorities
- APRIL 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Farzad Geravand and Reza Barati executed in Karaj on April 30
- APRIL 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 1 woman and 3 men executed in Birjand on April 30
Unidentified woman + Mehdi Eshterak, Mohammad Shehbakhsh, Mahmoud Gorgij
APRIL 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Faramarz Moradi executed in Ardabil on April 30
APRIL 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Sargolzayi executed in Mashhad on April 30
- APRIL 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mahmoud Mangoli (Gorgij) executed in Birjand on April 30
- APRIL 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mousa Fazeli executed in Qom on April 30
APRIL 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran commutes death sentence for Babak Zanjani, a billionaire tycoon
APRIL 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Imani executed in Khorramabad on April 30
- APRIL 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Isfahan on April 29
Din-Mohammad Mirakhani + 2 Unk
- APRIL 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mehdi Bamari executed in Kenhaj on April 29
- APRIL 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 men executed in Isfahan on April 29
Behnam Khakpour, Payam Farazandeh, Majid Gorgipour, Delagha Habib and Reza Shahsavandi
APRIL 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mansour Narouyi executed in Gonbad Kavous on April 28
APRIL 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Ghaen on April 28
Mohsen Karami (Rakhshani), … Brahui + unknown
APRIL 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hojat Shamskhani and Rashed Baluchi executed in Bandar-Abbas on April 28
Notwithstanding Baluchi's acute mental condition
- APRIL 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 unidentified men execute in Isfahan on April 28
- APRIL 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sohrab Rafieian and Morteza Azimi executed in Zanjan on April 28
APRIL 27, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Call for Urgent Action to Save Reza Rasaei and Habib Deris
2 Political Prisoners Facing Execution