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
NOVEMBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahram Mohammadbeigi executed in Ilam on November 28
NOVEMBER 28, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 more4 executions in Karaj on November 28
For a total of 7
NOVEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Nahavand on November 26
Brothers Farshid and Farshad Pirhayati, Asghar Suri
NOVEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Reza Rastkhiz executed in Shiraz on November 26
NOVEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Adel Damani executed in Chabahar on November 26
16 years old at the time of the alleged offence
NOVEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Names of 50 female political prisoners in Iran’s Evin prison
- NOVEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - More information about the execution of Hamidreza Azari
He was 17 at the time of the crime
NOVEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Heydari executed in Khorramabad on November 25
NOVEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Two men Executed in Rasht on November 25
Political prisoner Geda Ali Saber Motlagh and Mohsen Sedaghat
NOVEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified woman executed in Rasht on November 25
- NOVEMBER 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mother of executed protester arrested for wailing at his funeral
Afsaneh Zohrevand, mother of Milad Zohrevand
NOVEMBER 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified young man executed in Sabzevar on 24 November
Possibly a minor at the time of the crime
NOVEMBER 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Milad Zohrevand secretly executed in Hamadan on November 23
A political prisoner
NOVEMBER 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rasoul Gorgij and Shahmorad Davoudi executed in Mashhad on November 23
NOVEMBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Andishkouh and Moslem Jamshidi executed in Karaj on November 22
NOVEMBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ebrahim Zamharir executed in Tabriz on November 22
NOVEMBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men executed in Karaj on November 22
Loghman Omrani + Unk
- NOVEMBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza … executed in Karaj on November 22
NOVEMBER 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Gholam Rasoul Heydari executed on November 22 in Shiraz
NOVEMBER 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Siamand Bukani (Ostwar) executed in Ardabil on November 20
- NOVEMBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Bandar Abbas on November 19
Abdulghafoor Mahmoudi, Mohammad Hussein TashtZar, Ali Payam
NOVEMBER 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yasin Zainaldini executed in Shiraz on November 19
- NOVEMBER 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 6 more executions in Karaj on November 15
3 other executions have already been reported, bringing the total to 9
- NOVEMBER 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ali Shirzadeh executed in Tabriz on November 15
- NOVEMBER 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Two unidentified men executed in Kerman on November 15
NOVEMBER 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - At least three men executed in Karaj on November 15
Bagher Mohammadi Geravand, Nazir Mohammad + Unk
NOVEMBER 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - A woman, Zarkhatoun Mazarzehi, executed in Kerman on November 15
19th woman executed in Iran in 2023
NOVEMBER 15, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Bakhshandeh executed in Gonbad Kavous on November 15
NOVEMBER 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Arman Babazadeh Ayan executed in Salmas on November 14
- NOVEMBER 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Unidentified man executed in Bandar Abbas
Date of execution not specified