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 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Jahanpour was 16 when committed the crime
One of the three men executed in Shiraz on September 16
SEPTEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Shiraz on September 16
Amir Naderzadeh, Sajad Fadayi, Abdollah Abdolsamad, Behzad Bagheri and Mobasher …
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 PENALTYIRAN - Mostafa Fashi executed in Kermanshah on September 10
SEPTEMBER 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kiumars Alayi executed in Qazvin on September 10
SEPTEMBER 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN Mansour Salari executed in Jiroft 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
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 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
SEPTEMBER 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN Saber Jamali executed in Hamedan 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 PENALTYIRAN - Barkatali Sanjarani executed in Zahedan on August 26
AUGUST 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amirreza Ajam Akrami executed in public in Shahroud on August 26