Executions
Archive theme
An execution is the act by which a state puts a condemned person to death. Hands Off Cain records the cases documented by public sources: press agencies, local newspapers, human rights organisations, official statements. The figure that results is a confirmed minimum, not an estimate of the real total: several states publish no data on executions, and in some countries they are not announced even to the families.
This page collects the news on the executions recorded by the association. The totals by country and by year are in the database.
Latest news
APRIL 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javad Goudarzi executed in Dorud on April 20
APRIL 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sadollah Gorgij executed in Zahedan on April 20
APRIL 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Bahari executed in Gorgan on April 20
APRIL 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Hosseinnejad Secretly Hanged
Kurdish Political Prisoner
APRIL 17, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: SCHOOL BUS STOP MURDERER EXECUTED
A Chinese man convicted of killing a Chinese woman and injuring two Japanese nationals in a knife attack at a school bus stop near Shanghai last year was executed, Japanese government officials said April 17, 2025.
APRIL 17, 2025United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Who are the death row executioners?
Disgraced doctors, suspended nurses and drunk drivers
APRIL 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Yavari Hanged in Gorgan on April 17
APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Bandar Abbas on April 15
Peyman Naderi, Karim Esmaili and Ayoub Barniani
APRIL 15, 2025Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: AFGHAN MAN EXECUTED IN MECCA FOR SMUGGLING HEROIN
Saudi Arabia's interior ministry announced on April 13, 2025 the execution of Afghan national Badshah Qul Suleimani in the Mecca region, after he was convicted of attempting to smuggle heroin into the kingdom.
APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abubakr Shahbakhsh executed in Kerman on April 15
APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rahim Rahimnejad executed in Kerman on April 15
- APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 men executed in Karaj (central) on April 15
Ali Shahi, Sajad Yarmohammadi, and Majid Rouhi
APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Motavalli and Gholamali Mashallahi executed in Arak on April 15
APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Abbasi executed in Kermanshah on April 15
APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Feizollah Karami and Sohrab Heydari Hanged in Qom on April 15
APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Faza Doustiani executed in Karaj (Central) on April 15
APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Marzieh Esmaeili executed in Qazvin on April 15
275 women executed since 2007
- APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sohrab Heydari executed in Qom on April 15
APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 64th Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
in 40 Prisons Across Iran
APRIL 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Amirizadeh Hanged in Sabzevar on April 15
APRIL 14, 2025AfghanistanDEATH PENALTYAFGHANISTAN: FOUR MEN PUBLICLY EXECUTED IN ONE DAY
Four men were publicly executed in Afghanistan on April 11, 2025, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban's return to power.
APRIL 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Dehani hanged in Zahedan on April 14
304 executions in Iran so far in 2025
APRIL 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Balochzehi executed in Zahedan on April 14
APRIL 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Regime Cleric Struggles to Justify 1988 Mass Executions
Mohammad Niazi’s report
APRIL 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Boghlani Hanged in Borazjan on April 14
APRIL 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Zahedan on April 13
Abdolsalam Baluch Meshkenti (Ahurani), Fereydoun Mohammadi, and Allahnazar Gorgij
APRIL 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Zahedan on April 12
Majid Lajei, Ramin (Rahmatollah) Alizahi, Davood Bajizahi (Shahouzehi), and Bashir Ahmad Rigi
- APRIL 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Rabi Shah-Morad and Wasim Ahmad executed in Qazvin on April 12
APRIL 11, 2025South CarolinaDEATH PENALTYUSA - South Carolina. Mikal Mahdi, 42, Black, was executed
By firing squad
APRIL 11, 2025DEATH PENALTYAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: GLOBAL RECORDED EXECUTIONS HIT THEIR HIGHEST FIGURE SINCE 2015
Global executions hit their highest figure since 2015, as over 1,500 people were executed across 15 countries in 2024, said Amnesty International on April 8, 2025 as it released its annual report on the global use of the death penalty