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
SEPTEMBER 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amir Parsa Hassanzadeh executed in Isfahan on September 26
SEPTEMBER 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahin Yusef Oghli executed in Tabriz on September 26
SEPTEMBER 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yaser Balandeh Executed in Jiroft Prison on September 25
SEPTEMBER 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men executed in Karaj on September 25
The identities of the men were not disclosed
SEPTEMBER 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kambakhsh Mahmoudi executed in Kermanshah on September 25
SEPTEMBER 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men executed in Shiraz on September 25
Rasoul Shenbandi and Akbar Saadi-Khani
SEPTEMBER 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Afrooz and Amirhossein Boroumand executed in Lahijan on September 24
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Malek-Hossein Torkashvand executed in Hamedan on September 23
SEPTEMBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Alimardani and Mohammad Ghasaban executed in Qazvin on September 23
SEPTEMBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Fardin Ahmadi executed in Shiraz on September 23
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khodamorad Zandi executed in Boroujerd on September 23
SEPTEMBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Rasht on September 11 and 23
Mostafa Amani, Nasrollah Pirasteh, Arman Atayi and Ramin Poursafar
SEPTEMBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Shiraz Central Prison (Adel Abad) on September 23
Hassan Nejati, Mohammadreza Nejati, Fardin Ahmadi, and Amin Shahabi
SEPTEMBER 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad-Javad Vafaie Thani Sentenced to Death for the Third Time
After a Retrial
SEPTEMBER 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hatem Ozdemir’s Death Sentence Upheld by the Supreme Court
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 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Akbar Azizi and Hamed Jahedi executed in Karaj on September 19
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 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 - Secret Execution of 4 men and 2 Women in Qazvin
In unspecified data, in August
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 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 PENALTY
IRAN - 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