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
MAY 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Reza Jafari executed in Abhar on May 14
MAY 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - UN Demands Iran Revoke Death Sentence for Mahmoud Mehrabi
An anti-corruption activist
MAY 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Rasoulof Flees Iran After Flogging, Prison Sentence
Award-Winning Filmmaker
MAY 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Isfahan on May 12
Masoud Estaki, Jafar Hosseinzadeh, Majid Rezaie, and Mostafa Ahgh-Mohammadi
MAY 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amin Jafari executed in Isfahan on May 12
MAY 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saman Jerngideh and Hamed Shahbakhsh executed in Bam on May 11
MAY 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A third man, not identified, executed in Bam on May 11
MAY 9, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Urmia on May 9
Hassan Choopani, Taher Abdolali, Hassan Arabi, and Abdollah Hassanzadeh Yangajeh
MAY 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 1 woman, 2 men executed in Kerman on May 8
Fariba Mohammad-Zahi, Abdollah Ozbakzahi, and Khalilollah Brahui
- MAY 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khan Mohammad Eshaghzehi executed in Semnan on May 8
- MAY 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Director Mohammad Rasoulof sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging
On May 8
MAY 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdullah Azbakzehi and Khalilullah Barahoei executed in Kahnoj on May 8
- MAY 8, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Houshang Nourollahi Younjanlou and Mohammad Afghan executed in Gorgan on May 8
MAY 7, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Moharrer executed in Urmia on May 7
- MAY 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Asghar Falah executed in Qom on May 5
MAY 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoner Mahmood Mehrabi sentenced to death
On May 5
MAY 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Bayazidi executed in Isfahan on May 5
- MAY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Soraya Mohammadi executed in Karaj on April 24
MAY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Maybe the woman identifies as Shahnaz was not executed
MAY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yaghoub Amiri executed in Ardabil on May 2
198 executions in 2024
- MAY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Tabriz on May 2
Mehdi Habibi, Saeed Ranjdoust, and Saber Aminabadi
MAY 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Rasoul Khoshkar executed in Tabriz on May 2
Three other executions were already known
MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Anwar Khezri Executed in Karaj on May 1
A Kurdish religious prisoner
MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Ashraf Khani executed in Kermanshah on May 1
- MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 more men executed in Karaj on May 1
arzad Geravand, Majid Barati, Reza Shir-Zahi and Majid Hajbari
- MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ahmad Heyrati executed in Shiraz on May 1
- MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Nasir Hariri executed in Qazvin on May 1
MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khosro Babavaldini executed in Kermanshah on May 1
MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hadi Laveh, a Kurdish singer, arrested on May 1
For criticizing authorities
- APRIL 30, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 1 woman and 3 men executed in Birjand on April 30
Unidentified woman + Mehdi Eshterak, Mohammad Shehbakhsh, Mahmoud Gorgij