Soils with persistent cyanide compounds (including ferricyanide and ferrocyanide) pose potential hazards to the environment and require remediation before utilization. This study investigated the alkaline-assisted leaching behavior of iron-cyanide complexes from five cyanide-contaminated soils via batch leaching experiments spanning a wide pH range (10-14). The results showed that the leaching ratio of iron-cyanide complex (R) was highly dependent on pH. Leaching with alkaline solution of pH < 12 resulted in a small desorption ratio (1%-5% for the laboratory-contaminated A type soils and 11% for B type soil), while alkaline solution with elevated pH (> 13) significantly enhanced the desorption ratio, reaching 87%-100% within a reaction time of 0.5 h except one soil sample. The desorption kinetics of the cyanide complexes at different pHs indicated that time is another parameter closely related to R. The time-dependent leaching ratio at pH 12 only slightly increased from 0.5 h to 48 h, reaching a maximum desorption ratio of 24% and 31% for ferricyanide and ferrocyanide, respectively. Whereas, the desorption profiles of contaminated soils at pH 13 revealed a rapid desorption of iron-cyanide complexes within the first two hours followed by a plateau that corresponded to a complete desorption. The leaching characteristics of all cyanide contaminated soils revealed the fact that ferricyanide has a stronger affinity with soils than ferrocyanide, which implies a lower mobility of ferricyanide.