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
DECEMBER 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Samira Sabzian Fard executed in Karaj on December 20
21 women executed in Iran this year
DECEMBER 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farzad Golmohammadi Executed in Sanandaj on December 20
DECEMBER 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Najibollah Dahmardeh Executed in Ghaemshahr on December 20
Baluch are grossly overrepresented in execution numbers in Iran
DECEMBER 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death Sentences Issued for 2,000 People in the Small City of Delfan
- DECEMBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sweden. Appeals Court Upholds Life Sentence for Hamid Noury
DECEMBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Moslem Farahani executed in Zanjan on December 19
DECEMBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdollah Zamani and Esmail Ijbari Executed in Karaj on December 19
DECEMBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi boycotts latest trial
DECEMBER 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Poursiamak Executed in Neyshabur on December 18
DECEMBER 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Taher Davabi Executed in Khorramabad on December 18
- DECEMBER 16, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Execution Of Alleged Mossad Agent (not identified)
DECEMBER 16, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Salarzehi executed in Iranshahr on December 16
818 executions in Iran in 2023
DECEMBER 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Davoud Brahui (Brahooie) executed in Qom on December 15
- DECEMBER 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khairullah Nahtani executed in Zahedan on December 14
DECEMBER 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Three men recently executed in Shiraz
DECEMBER 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mosafer Zargar executed in Mashhad on December 14
DECEMBER 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abid (Obaid) Mahmoudi executed in Kermanshah on December 13
DECEMBER 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Vahid Haji Pour executed in Isfahan on December 13
DECEMBER 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khalil Majedi executed in Ahvaz on December 13
DECEMBER 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammadreza Habibian Executed in Babol on December 13
DECEMBER 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Bakshayesh executed in Karaj on December 13
There is a high possibility that he was a child offender
- DECEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - The European Parliament officially awarded the Sakharov prize to Mahsa Amini
and the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement
- DECEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Bababyi executed in Shirvan on December 12
DECEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Davoud Khademi executed in Sanandaj on 12 December
- DECEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Babaei executed in Shirvan on December 12
DECEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Karaj on December 12
Amin Zakeri Kakavand, Khalil Haji Abadi, Milad Bideh, Hamid Bakshaish, and Hamid Esmaili
DECEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sajad Haghizadeh executed in Khorramabad on December 12
DECEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Bahram Seyed Zadeh executed in Qom on December 12
DECEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abolfazl Abdolmaleki executed in Qom on December 12
DECEMBER 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mahsa Amini's Family Decries Travel Ban on Eve of Human Rights Award Ceremony
The European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought