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
- 9,149
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 9,149 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
JULY 27, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men and 1 woman executed in Khorramabad on July 27
Ardeshir Maleki, Azim Amrayi (Emraei), … Farrokhnejad + Unk.
JULY 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ghadir Jamshidi executed in Torbat-e Jam on July 25
JULY 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kamran Sheikheh executed in Urmia on July 25
Kurdish-Sunni political prisoner
- JULY 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hasan Yousefi Azar executed in Urmia on July 25
JULY 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Moharramkhani and Hamed Naderi executed in Qazvin on July 25
JULY 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ramezan … executed in Mashhad on July 24
JULY 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mutiullah Barakzai executed in Qaen on July 24
JULY 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ramezan Gholamian and Mousa Najar executed in Mashhad on July 24
JULY 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men and 3 women executed in Birjand on July 23
Amir Hamzeh Barahooie Mojarrad, Vahid Vahdani + 5 Unk
JULY 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Pakhshan Azizi, a political detainee, sentenced to death
JULY 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gulab Shah Nurzehi executed in Bandar Abbas on July 23
- JULY 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hassan Falahi executed in Qom on July 22
- JULY 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj on July 21
Davood Brahui, Saeed Mohammadpour, Mehdi-Ali Akbari + unidentified Afghan
JULY 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Daniyal Kazeminejad executed in Kermanshah on July 21
On charges of murdering a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
- JULY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men and 1 woman executed in Shiraz on July 20
Mansour Tavakoli, Hamed Shekasteh, Mohsen Ostovari, and … Mahmoudinia
- JULY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saeed Sepahvand executed in Khorramabad on July 20
- JULY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saeed Sepahvand executed in Khorramabad on July 20
JULY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Edris Jamshidzahi executed in Zahedan on July 18
JULY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Javad Teklo executed in Baft on July 18
- JULY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Taher Sadeghi executed in Rasht on July 17
JULY 9, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Ghorbani executed in Qazvin on July 9
JULY 7, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mojtaba Karami executed in Shiraz on July 7
- JULY 7, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mostafa Hosseini and Hatam Shahidi Executed in Gorgan on July 7
JULY 6, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Ezati (Ezzati) Executed in Zanjan on July 6
JULY 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Urgent Action for Sharifeh Mohammadi
Kurdish labor activist sentenced to death
- JULY 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sharifeh Mohammadi Sentenced to Death
- JULY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN . 3 men executed in Tabriz on July 2
Reza Ahmadzadeh, Bahram Moharrami, and Mansour …
- JUNE 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Mashhad on June 30
Yaser Ghafoorian, Mohammad Hooshyar Alizadeh + 2 Unk
- JUNE 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Habib Shojaei executed in Sari on June 30
- JUNE 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali-Allah Bakhsh and Afzal-Allah Bakhsh executed in Shiraz on June 30