Afghanistan
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 7
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Afghan law does not prohibit the execution of an individual...
- News items in the archive
- 560
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Afghanistan is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 7 the year before. The archive holds 560 news items on Afghanistan, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- DECEMBER 29, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
The Afghan ambassador to Australia strongly denied...
The Afghan ambassador to Australia strongly denied suggestions that asylum seekers sent home had been killed, and threatened legal action against those making such claims
- OCTOBER 22, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that a new law in Afghanistan proposed...
It was reported that a new law in Afghanistan proposed the death penalty for those who cultivate and traffic in narcotics
- OCTOBER 1, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Qabel Ould Abderrahman Abderrahim, an Afghan found...
Qabel Ould Abderrahman Abderrahim, an Afghan found guilty of smuggling heroin, was beheaded by sword on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia's city of Jeddah
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Afghan national Nader Khan Bardel was executed by beheading...
Afghan national Nader Khan Bardel was executed by beheading in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah for an unspecified drug related crime
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Afghani Abdul Sami'i Bin Abdul Ahad Qari, condemned...
Afghani Abdul Sami'i Bin Abdul Ahad Qari, condemned to death in Saudi Arabia for smuggling opium into the country, was publicly beheaded by sword in the Saudi city of Jeddah
- AUGUST 10, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Assadullah bin Mohammed Jan bin Rahim Dad, known as...
Assadullah bin Mohammed Jan bin Rahim Dad, known as Mohammed Nabi Hamsha, an Afghan national found guilty of smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia, was beheaded by sword in the Red Sea city of Jeddah
- MAY 27, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
The conservative Iranian daily Kayhan reported that...
The conservative Iranian daily Kayhan reported that Ghassem Abdollahi, a 47 year old Afghani, had been publicly hanged for murder in the south-western town of Poldokhtar
- MAY 9, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Sultan Khan Osman Omrah, an Afghani convicted of drug...
Sultan Khan Osman Omrah, an Afghani convicted of drug trafficking, was publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia
- APRIL 28, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
The United Nations and an Afghan human rights group...
The United Nations and an Afghan human rights group accused fighters in northwestern Afghanistan of violating human rights during clashes in March, including the execution of 26 people whose bodies were found with their hands tied
- MARCH 5, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
A United Nations human rights expert called on Afghanistan...
A United Nations human rights expert called on Afghanistan to suspend the death penalty and stop executions because the country's judicial system was not up to international standards, according to a report released by the UN
- JANUARY 1, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Afghanistan has an interim administration which was...
Afghanistan has an interim administration which was inaugurated on 22 December 2001 and which is due to govern for six months
- NOVEMBER 18, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
About 100 Afghan students held a demonstration in front...
About 100 Afghan students held a demonstration in front of the Afghan embassy in Islamabad in Pakistan
- NOVEMBER 12, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
A tribunal has turned down the appeal from Abdullah...
A tribunal has turned down the appeal from Abdullah Shah a notorious Afghan commander sentenced to death for killing dozens of people, including three of his wives and five of his children
- OCTOBER 30, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Three Afghans convicted of murder, armed robbery, "seducing...
Three Afghans convicted of murder, armed robbery, "seducing children" and creating public disorder were hanged publicly in the Islamic republic of Iran's city of Qom, newspapers reported
- OCTOBER 26, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
During the debate on the new Constitution, moderates...
During the debate on the new Constitution, moderates fear the growing influence of religious conservatives over the judicial system and regard Fazul Hadi Shinwari, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, with suspicion
- OCTOBER 23, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
The special rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human...
The special rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Asma Jahangir, said at the end of her ten-day mission in Afghanistan: "I feel encouraged at the political will shown by the people and the gove
- OCTOBER 16, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Abdol Mahmud Daqiq, the prosecutor general, met UNHCR's...
Abdol Mahmud Daqiq, the prosecutor general, met UNHCR's head at the former office
- OCTOBER 16, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Abdol Mahmud Daqiq, the prosecutor general, met UNHCR's...
Abdol Mahmud Daqiq, the prosecutor general, met UNHCR's head at the former office
- OCTOBER 15, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
An Afghan tribunal sentenced one of the country's most...
An Afghan tribunal sentenced one of the country's most notorious commanders to death for murdering dozens of people, including three of his wives and five of his children
- OCTOBER 15, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Two convicted armed Afghan robbers were hanged in Tehran
Two convicted armed Afghan robbers were hanged in Tehran
- OCTOBER 9, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Two Afghan armed robbers were hanged in accordance...
Two Afghan armed robbers were hanged in accordance with the verdict of the Islamic Revolution Court in Tehran, the Iranian newspaper Kayhan reported
- OCTOBER 2, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Zarmina never admitted her daughter's role, and no...
Zarmina never admitted her daughter's role, and no one was looking to champion the cause of a woman in such a predicament
- OCTOBER 2, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Footage of a faceless, nameless woman shot dead in...
Footage of a faceless, nameless woman shot dead in Kabul's Olympic Stadium was secretly smuggled out of Afghanistan by members of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), a women's group
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Afghanistan's chief justice proposed that one of the...
Afghanistan's chief justice proposed that one of the country's most notorious commanders should face public execution after being convicted on dozens of counts of murder
- MAY 20, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Two men were hanged for murder in the remote Pakistani...
Two men were hanged for murder in the remote Pakistani town of Much on May 7
- MAY 8, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
The bodies of hundreds of Taliban prisoners massacred...
The bodies of hundreds of Taliban prisoners massacred by Northern Alliance soldiers have been discovered by United Nations investigators in what is the worst atrocity so far of the Afghan war
- MAY 7, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Pakistan hanged two Afghan men for killing the leader...
Pakistan hanged two Afghan men for killing the leader of an Afghan women's rights group and two of her aides 15 years ago, jail officials said
- APRIL 9, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Ethnic Pashtuns are being targeted in violent attacks...
Ethnic Pashtuns are being targeted in violent attacks and looting sprees in northern Afghanistan, according to a report released by the US advocacy group Human Rights Watch
- APRIL 3, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
A new Afghan movement has issued an edict condemning...
A new Afghan movement has issued an edict condemning the Afghan interim administration as apostate and condemning all its active members to death
- MARCH 4, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Al-Qaeda suspects at Camp X-Ray in Cuba, who have been...
Al-Qaeda suspects at Camp X-Ray in Cuba, who have been held by US forces for two months, have been warned that they face the death penalty although no evidence has been given against them