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 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Gomshadzehi executed in Zahedan on November 14
NOVEMBER 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Confirmed the death sentence of 22-year-old Milad Zohrevand
A protester detained during last year's nationwide unrest
- NOVEMBER 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Shahbaz Latifi Sarini executed in Kermanshah on November 13
NOVEMBER 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Seyed Reza Hosseini executed in Hamedan on November 13
NOVEMBER 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Three Baluch political prisoners executed in Zahedan on November 13
Mohammad Barahouyi Anjomani, Mohammad Karim Barkazayi Akson and Edris Bilrani
NOVEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza … executed in Isfahan on November 12
NOVEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on November 12
Vahid Salemi, Behrouz Dinarbar and Ahmad Mohammadi
NOVEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Afshin Joshani and Taher Arefi executed in Shiraz on November 12
- NOVEMBER 12, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abdolkhalegh Parvizi executed in Ramhormoz on November 12
- NOVEMBER 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Reza Arbabzehi and Abdolhagh Gomshadzehi executed in Zahedan on November 11.
NOVEMBER 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Meisam Chandani executed in Zahedan on November 11
A Baloch political prisoner
- NOVEMBER 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Amin Barakzehi executed in Saravan on November 11
- NOVEMBER 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Fahim Moghabeli executed in Jifoft on November 11
NOVEMBER 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Akbar … executed in Tabriz “in the last week”
692 executions in Iran in 2023
NOVEMBER 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolreza Gholami executed in Kerman on November 9
NOVEMBER 9, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hojat Gharebiglu executed in Zanjan on November 9
- NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 9 prisoners executed in Karaj on November 8
Rasul Taimuri, Hossein Hawasi, Bahman Fethullahzadeh + 6 Unk
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Farhad Aghaei executed in Kermanshah on November 8
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jailed Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mohammadi Taken to Hospital – Without Hijab
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 unidentified men executed in Bandar Abbas on November 8
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Khodadad Rahimi and Saber Alikhani executed in Kashan on November 8
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amin Khorshidi executed in Urmia on November 8
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahram Ali Abbasi executed in Gorgan on November 8
NOVEMBER 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unnamed man executed in Kerman on November 8
NOVEMBER 7, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Alireza Partowi executed in Kermanshah on November 7
- NOVEMBER 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Akbar Farokhi executed in Urmia on November 8
- NOVEMBER 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Hamed Barahouyi executed in Isfahan on November 6
- NOVEMBER 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - On November 6, Narges Mohammadi, detained at Evin Prison, commenced a hunger strike
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent political prisoner
NOVEMBER 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - More than 200 Experts Urge United Nations to Protest Iran’s Chairing of UNHRC Social Forum
NOVEMBER 5, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ghasem Abasteh, a Kurdish-Sunni political prisoner, executed in Ghezel Hesar on November 5