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
- AUGUST 8, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement on publicly hanged...
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement on publicly hanged the four men convicted of setting off bombs in the capital and strung their bodies from cranes and a traffic tower in Kabul
- AUGUST 8, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Anyone found trying to convert Afghan Muslims to Christianity...
Anyone found trying to convert Afghan Muslims to Christianity - or anyone who converts - faces the death penalty under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law
- AUGUST 7, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
The head of the Taleban sentenced to death four men...
The head of the Taleban sentenced to death four men for masterminding a number of bomb blasts in the Afghan capital Kabul in November 2000, Afghan Taleban radio said
- AUGUST 7, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the...
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the government will do all it can to secure the release of two Australian aid workers, Diana Thomas and Peter Bunch, arrested in Afghanistan on August 6
- AUGUST 5, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
An armed Afghan bandit, sentenced to death for clashes...
An armed Afghan bandit, sentenced to death for clashes with Iranian police and carrying narcotics, was hanged in the northeastern city of Sabzevar in Iran's Khorasan Province
- AUGUST 5, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have arrested 24 aid workers,...
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have arrested 24 aid workers, including two Americans, on charges of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity
- AUGUST 1, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Abdol Ghani was executed in Ghazni Province's Qarabagh...
Abdol Ghani was executed in Ghazni Province's Qarabagh District
- JULY 28, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
A convicted murderer was executed at a public meeting...
A convicted murderer was executed at a public meeting in Laghman Province, the Afghan Taleban radio said
- JULY 28, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Ahmad Samanzehi, an armed Afghan bandit, sentenced...
Ahmad Samanzehi, an armed Afghan bandit, sentenced to death by an Iranian revolutionary court for illegal possession of prohibited drugs, was hanged at dawn in northeastern Iran
- JULY 27, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Abdol Qayum was executed in a sports ground in the...
Abdol Qayum was executed in a sports ground in the western Herat Province
- JULY 16, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
A Loya Jirga [assembly of elders] of North Waziristan...
A Loya Jirga [assembly of elders] of North Waziristan tribesman at Ladha Tehsil ordered the execution of an Afghan accused of murder
- JULY 15, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Taleban radio reported that two murderers had been...
Taleban radio reported that two murderers had been publicly executed at the Abu Nasar sports field in Farah Province
- JULY 13, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Two men convicted of murder were publicly executed...
Two men convicted of murder were publicly executed at the Mazar-e Sharif [Balkh Province, northern Afghanistan] sports ground
- JUNE 26, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Allah Mohammad was publicly executed in front of thousands...
Allah Mohammad was publicly executed in front of thousands of onlookers after he had been found guilty of murder
- JUNE 18, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Qasem was publicly executed in the Shindand...
Mohammad Qasem was publicly executed in the Shindand district
- JUNE 16, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Abdol Momen was publicly executed for murder in Baghis...
Abdol Momen was publicly executed for murder in Baghis province
- JUNE 14, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia executed eight...
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia executed eight men on the Afghan-Tajik border in full view of Russian border guards, a Russian military source in the Tajik capital Dushanbe said
- MAY 24, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
A man convicted of being a murderer, thief and adulterer...
A man convicted of being a murderer, thief and adulterer was executed before thousands of citizens in the Aqcha District in Jowzjan
- MAY 1, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Janat Gul, who had consciously killed his wife Bebi...
Janat Gul, who had consciously killed his wife Bebi Ayesha was executed in front of thousands of people in Leva plain, Laghman Province
- APRIL 25, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Four Afghan drug traffickers were hanged in Birjand,...
Four Afghan drug traffickers were hanged in Birjand, in Iran's northeastern Khorassan province
- APRIL 22, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Namatollah (phonetic) was executed at Kandahar stadium...
Namatollah (phonetic) was executed at Kandahar stadium after being found guilty of murder
- FEBRUARY 25, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Three unidentified Afghan bandits were publicly hanged...
Three unidentified Afghan bandits were publicly hanged in the Iranian province of Khorasan near the border with Afghanistan
- FEBRUARY 23, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Afghanistan's ultra-orthodox Taliban regime publicly...
Afghanistan's ultra-orthodox Taliban regime publicly executed two women and flogged a dozen others convicted of adultery in the southern city of Kandahar, the official Radio Shariat said Saturday
- FEBRUARY 20, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
An Afghan national, Shalif Alizehi, was executed in...
An Afghan national, Shalif Alizehi, was executed in Iran after being found guilty of robbery, rape and drug-trafficking
- JANUARY 29, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
The Afghan Northern Alliance said that the Taleban...
The Afghan Northern Alliance said that the Taleban herded together civilians from the villages of Bodmoshki, Gardigag and Shahar Nik and executed 500 by firing squad the Yakawlang District earlier in the month
- JANUARY 21, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Wazir bin Zarif Shinwari, an Afghan man, was beheaded...
Wazir bin Zarif Shinwari, an Afghan man, was beheaded in the western city of Jiddah in Saudi Arabia
- JANUARY 19, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that Taleban...
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that Taleban had executed at least 100 civilians after recapturing an area of central Afghanistan early in January, 2001
- JANUARY 8, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Taliban's supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar issued...
Taliban's supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar issued a decree of ban on conversion from Islam
- JANUARY 1, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
On December 14, 2000, the country's warring rivals,...
On December 14, 2000, the country's warring rivals, the ruling Taleban and opposition Northern Alliance, held informal peace talks for the first time in 2000
- JANUARY 1, 2001AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Afghan law does not prohibit the execution of an individual...
Afghan law does not prohibit the execution of an individual who was under the age of 18 at the time the crime was committed