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
JUNE 6, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hatem Özdemir appeals death sentence to higher Iranian court
Kurdish political prisoner belonging to the People Defense Forces
JUNE 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nader Khosrawi and Nasrollah Ayoubi executed in Zanjan on June 5
JUNE 4, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Havel Prize Awarded to Toomaj Salehi
Dissident Iranian Rapper
JUNE 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iman Rezaiepour executed in Neyshabur on June 2
- JUNE 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on June 1
Mahmoud Qaedi, Hassan Ne'matollahi, and Mohammad Saeed Zohrabi
MAY 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Samir Saeedi Rad executed in Qom on May 26
261 executions in Iran in 2024
MAY 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Arezoomandi and Samir Saeedirad executed in Qom on May 26
MAY 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Appeal of Jewish death row inmate Arvin Ghahremani dismissed
MAY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Raisi's death does not mean the closure of the case on his crimes
Ebrahim Raisi, the president of the Islamic Republic and a member of the "Death Committee"
MAY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - NCRI: Raisi’s Death Delivers Strategic Blow to Khamenei
Sparking Crises and Youth Rebellion in Iran
MAY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Dissident Expresses Joy Amid Mourning for President Raisi
Saeed Afkari, brother of the executed wrestler Navid Afkari
MAY 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Fardin Musazadeh and Mehdi Khadem executed in Ardebil on May 19
MAY 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hatem Ozdemir sentenced to death once again
Kurdish Political Prisoner
- MAY 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 men executed in Shiraz on May 19
Mojtaba Jouyandeh, Mostafa Aghaei, Nader Ghorbani + unidentified Afghan
MAY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman, 5 men executed in Urmia on May 18
Parvin Mousavi, Mansour Naseri, Parviz Qasemi, Yousef Saeedi, Ramin Lavandipour, and 'Jabali'
MAY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Asghar Hajizadeh and Kaveh Bashangeh executed in Salmas on May 18
MAY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ramin Saadat executed in Miandoab on May 18
Arrested at the age of 17
MAY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 25 Kurdish executed in May
MAY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yaser Abdollahi executed in Isfahan on May 18
MAY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 more xecuted in Ardabil on May 18
Hatef Sha'abani
MAY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Fatemeh Abdollahi, a woman, executed in Neyshabur on May 18
10th woman executed in Iran in 2024
- MAY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Young Jewish man at risk of execution
Arvin Ghahremani
MAY 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Urgent action to halt the execution of Parvin Mousavi
- MAY 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 Women Nobel Peace Laureates Call To End Iran’s Execution Spree
Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams, Tawakkol Karman and Leymah Gbowee
MAY 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Razieh, a woman, executed in Mashhad on May 15
238 executions in Iran in 2024
MAY 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Karaj on May 15
Political prisoner Khosrow Besharat + Mohammad-Reza Rahimpour, Sirus Hayatbini, Mohammad-Karim Fazeli, and an unidentified Afghan national
- MAY 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jafar Aslani executed in Qazvin on May 15
MAY 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Gholamhosseini and Farokh Khan Mohammadi executed in Ilam on May 14
MAY 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Naser Atarod executed in Qom on May 14
MAY 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Ghobadi executed in Shiraz on May 14