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
MARCH 3, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed … executed on March 3
Sentenced as a “Mossad agent”
MARCH 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - February 2024: 67 Kolbars Killed or Injured at the Borders of Kurdistan
MARCH 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - "Only" 10 eecutions in February
Becouse of the elections
FEBRUARY 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hengaw's statistical report on the state of Iran's prisons in 2023
Deaths of 11 prisoners under torture
FEBRUARY 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Esmaeili (Esmaili) executed in Hamedan on February 21
FEBRUARY 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahin Vasaf death penalty confirmed over Israel espionage charges
A Kurdish prisoner
- FEBRUARY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - A woman, Hajar Atabaki, hanged in Qazvin on January 20
231 women executed in Iran since 2007
FEBRUARY 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iraj Paaki executed in Urmia on February 19
FEBRUARY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ashraf Akramullah executed in Isfahan on February 18
- FEBRUARY 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 Baloch political prisoners sentenced to death
Eidou Shahbakhsh, Abdul Ghani Shahbakhsh, Abdol Rahim Qanbarzahi Gargij, and Suleiman Shahbakhsh
FEBRUARY 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoner Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani could be executed soon
FEBRUARY 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Man Sentenced to Death Over of Killing Filmmaker Mehrjui
Unidentified
- FEBRUARY 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abuzar Taher Arab executed in Qom on February 12
FEBRUARY 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed "recently" in Tabriz
- FEBRUARY 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohammad Khezrnejad sentenced to death
A Kurdish political prisoner
FEBRUARY 10, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahab Nadali, a political prisoner, sentenced to death
- FEBRUARY 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Highest number of death sentences in 12 months
882 executions and 198 death sentences
FEBRUARY 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - European Parliament Condemns Escalating Executions in Iran
Calls for International Sanctions and IRGC Designation
FEBRUARY 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Man amputated of 4 fingers on July 17, 2023
Youssef T.
FEBRUARY 7, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Feizi and Rahmat Bigham executed in Zanjan on February 7
FEBRUARY 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hands off Cain: 80 executions in January 2024
FEBRUARY 3, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Mehraban executed in Qazvin on February 3
FEBRUARY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran HRM: 88 Executions in Iranian Prisons during January 2024
82% of the executions were carried out secretly
FEBRUARY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hengaw: 74 Executions in Iranian Prisons during January 2024
JANUARY 31, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A woman, Zahra Nazarian, executed in Sabzevar on January 31
230th woman executed in Iran since 2007
- JANUARY 31, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hossein Habibi executed in Urmia on January 31
JANUARY 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Azaryoun executed in Urmia on Jannuary 30
- JANUARY 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 men executed in Karaj on January 30
Esmail Chieh and a man only identified as Payam
JANUARY 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Execution for Four Kurdish Political Prisoners in Karaj on January 29
Pejman Fatehi, Mohsen Mazloum, Vafa Azarbar, and Mohammad Faramarzi
JANUARY 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Rajabian executed in Karaj on January 29