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
JANUARY 29, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj on January 29
Mohammad Hussein Esmaieli, Ali Rajabian, Javad Ajamian, and Mohammad Hassan Jafari
- JANUARY 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Iran seeking death penalty for Johan Floderus
In retaliation for the life sentence handed down in Sweden on Hamid Noury
JANUARY 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Reza Ghorbani executed in Karaj on January 28
JANUARY 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Aref and Asif Ishaqzahi executed in Birjand on January 28
JANUARY 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ruhollah Shakeri executed in Birjand on January 28
- JANUARY 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 Kurdish prisoners of conscience at imminent risk of execution
Anvar Khezri, Kamran Sheikheh and Khosrow Besharat
JANUARY 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentence confirmed for Kurdish political prisoner Yousef Ahmadi
JANUARY 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on January 24
Fazel Shafiei, Morteza Nadimi + Unk. 63 executions in January
JANUARY 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Obidavi sentenced to death
A political prisoner
JANUARY 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Judge Salavati: The Ruthless Enforcer of Iran’s Medieval Legal Decrees
JANUARY 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoner Farhad Salimi executyed in Karaj on January 23
JANUARY 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Asgarat executed in Karaj on January 23
JANUARY 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Mohammad Ghobadloo executed in Karaj on January 22
JANUARY 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Massoud Rigi executed in Zahedan on January 22
JANUARY 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Ali Shakurian and Naser Mavedat executed in Sabzevar on January 22
- JANUARY 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Another young woman killed by the police
Anahita Amirpour, 20 years old
JANUARY 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdulreza Qalavand severely beaten prior to his execution
Was executed on August 21, 2123
JANUARY 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Salman Salimi and Ahmad Haeri executed in Hamedan on January 21
JANUARY 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Moslem Aliyari executed in Shirvan on January 21
- JANUARY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hasan Gergij executed in Zahedan on January 20
JANUARY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Isfahan on January 20
Nouri Zamani, Fathollah Jourkesh and Hosseinali Koutahi
JANUARY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Eslahollah Bakhsh and Hamid Ebadinejad executed in Rasht on January 18
JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalil Soleimani executed in Hamedan on January 17
- JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Eslam Aman Aldini executed in Qom on January 17
JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mashahdi executed in Mashhad on January 17
JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj on January 17
Bahman Fathollahzadeh, Imani Shabani, Keramat Jan Nazarkhani, + 1 unk.
JANUARY 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kamran Khoroush executed in Shiraz on January 16
JANUARY 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Habib Darivishi executed in Kermanshah on January 16
JANUARY 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Akram Karimpour executed in Hamedan on January 16
JANUARY 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Mehri executed in Ilam on January 16