Australia
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Australia abolished the death penalty for ordinary...
- News items in the archive
- 297
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Australia is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 297 news items on Australia, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- NOVEMBER 30, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL NGUYEN 'READY TO DIE'
Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian heroin trafficker on death row in Singapore still had his sense of humor just days before his scheduled execution on December 2, his lawyer said.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. EXECUTION DATE SET FOR AUSTRALIAN MAN CONVICTED OF DRUG SMUGGLING
Singapore will hang 25-year-old Australian drug smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van on December 2, despite numerous pleas by Canberra for clemency, his Australian lawyer Lex Lasry said.
- NOVEMBER 15, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED NATIONS. UN OFFICIAL URGES SINGAPORE NOT TO EXECUTE AUSTRALIAN
Philip Alston, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions for the UN Commission on Human Rights, urged the Singapore government not to hang Nguyen Tuong Van, a convicted Australian heroin trafficker, saying the execution violated
- NOVEMBER 14, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. CALL FOR END TO DEATH PENALTY
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer should use a regional economic meeting in South Korea to call for the abolition of the death penalty across the region, Amnesty International said.
- NOVEMBER 7, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. ACTIVISTS URGE GOVERNMENT TO SPARE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL ON DEATH ROW
activists in Singapore protested against the planned execution of Nguyen Tuong Van, a convicted Australian drug carrier, and urged the government to relax its harsh drug laws. Speakers at a forum, organised by Singaporean civil rights group Think Centre,
- NOVEMBER 7, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. NGUYEN SUPPORTERS VOICE DEATH PENALTY OPPOSITION
Adelaide supporters of Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian man on death row in Singapore, held a lunchtime rally to voice their opposition to the death penalty. About 30 people sat on the steps of Parliament House to show support for Nguyen, 25, who was facin
- OCTOBER 31, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. VIETNAMESE LEADER PLEADS TO STOP HANGING OF NGUYEN TUONG VAN
the state of Victoria’s most senior Vietnamese leader called on Australian Prime Minister John Howard to state unequivocally that Melbourne's Nguyen Tuong Van should not hang in Singapore.
- OCTOBER 31, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENT PLEADS FOR LIFE OF NGUYEN TUONG VAN ON DEATH ROW IN SINGAPORE
Australia's parliament passed a motion calling on Singapore not to hang Nguyen Tuong Van, a 25 year old Australian convicted of drug trafficking, but Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he would not jeopardise relations with the city state over the iss
- OCTOBER 28, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. NGUYEN CLEMENCY 'A POLITICAL PROBLEM', MINISTER
Australians have to respect Singapore's decision to execute Van Tuong Nguyen, a Melbourne man convicted of heroin trafficking, federal Human Services Minister Joe Hockey said.
- OCTOBER 27, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. GOVERNMENT BACKBENCHER TUCKEY FIRM ON DRUG-SMUGGLER
government backbencher Wilson Tuckey said an Australian drug-smuggler on death row should not be spared execution for his crime.
- OCTOBER 26, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. POLICE DEFEND TIP-OFF THAT LEFT 'BALI NINE' FACING EXECUTION
Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty defended a tip-off to Indonesian authorities that left nine young Australians, the so-called "Bali Nine", facing the death penalty on drugs charges.
- OCTOBER 26, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN TO SAVE DRUG MULE ON DEATH ROW ON SINGAPORE
Amnesty International launched a worldwide campaign to save Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian heroin smuggler condemned to hang in Singapore.
- OCTOBER 26, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION URGES SINGAPORE TO HALT NGUYEN'S EXECUTION
the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urged the Singapore government not to execute Nguyen Tuong Van, a 25-year-old convicted Australian drug runner sentenced to hang for heroin smuggling.
- OCTOBER 24, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. CANBERRA STEPS UP LAST-MINUTE APPEALS TO SINGAPORE OVER NATIONAL ON DEATH ROW
Canberra issued a forceful last-minute appeal to Singapore to spare the life of Nguyen Tyong Van, a condemned Australian drug smuggler, after the island state ignored repeated pleas for clemency from Australia's top leaders.
- OCTOBER 23, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. NO HOPE FOR AUSTRALIAN FACING EXECUTION IN SINGAPORE: PM
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said there was no realistic hope that Nguyen Tuong Van, a 25-year-old Australian drug-runner, could be saved from execution in Singapore.
- OCTOBER 21, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP CALLS FOR MORATORIUM ON DEATH PENALTY
Think Centre, a Singapore civil rights group, called for a moratorium on executions after Australian national Nguyen Tuong Van lost his final clemency appeal.
- OCTOBER 21, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. PM SUPPORTS DEATH PENALTY OF SADDAM HUSSEIN
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he believed former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein should be executed if the Iraqi law authorises death penalty on him. Asked if Saddam should be executed if found guilty of murdering on Australia's Southern Cross
- OCTOBER 21, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. AUSTRALIAN TO BE EXECUTED FOR HEROIN SMUGGLING
Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian man convicted of drugs charges in Singapore lost his final appeal for clemency and was due for execution, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
- OCTOBER 16, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. PERTH ARCHBISHOP CONDEMNS NEW TALK OF DEATH PENALTY
Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth criticised moves to reintroduce the death penalty for serious offenders in Western Australia.
- OCTOBER 15, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. PLEA TO PM ON THE NINE
Australian lawyers for the Bali Nine approached the Howard Government, seeking diplomatic intervention to have the death penalty removed as a possible sentence for the alleged heroin-smugglers.
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. CANBERRA TO REFUSE TO HELP INDONESIANS CONVICT AUSSIES ON DEATH ROW
Australia will refuse to cooperate with Indonesian authorities prosecuting nine Australians on drugs charges because they had called for the death penalty, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said.
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. BRITON TO BE SENT BACK TO SINGAPORE FOR MURDER TRIAL
Australia was to extradite British businessman Michael McCrea to Singapore to face trial for a double murder after Australia's highest court rejected his bid to avoid being handed over. McCrea, 46, was accused of murdering his driver and his driver's girl
- AUGUST 30, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. BRITON WANTED FOR MURDER IN SINGAPORE CLOSER TO EXTRADITION
Michael McCrea, a British businessman accused of a double murder in Singapore, lost another round in a three-year fight to avoid extradition from Australia on the grounds that he could be executed.
- AUGUST 23, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM. PRESIDENT COMMUTES AUSTRALIAN'S DEATH SENTENCE FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Vietnam's President Tran Duc Luong commuted to life imprisonment a death sentence handed to Tran Van Thanh for drug trafficking.
- JULY 29, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM. AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER APPEALS TO VIETNAM FOR CLEMENCY FOR AUSTRALIANS ON DEATH ROW
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he had appealed to Vietnam for clemency for two Australians facing the death penalty for drug smuggling.
- JULY 12, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM. AUSTRALIAN DEATH-ROW CONVICT LOSES DEATH PENALTY APPEAL
a 45-year-old Australian of Vietnamese origin has lost his appeal against his death sentence for trafficking heroin in Vietnam, state media say.
- JULY 11, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. CHINA OPPOSES THE GIVING OF ASYLUM TO DIPLOMAT FOR FEAR OF EXECUTION
China voiced "resolute opposition" to Australia's decision to grant asylum to Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese diplomat, and dismissed his accusations that he faced execution if repatriated as "lies not worthy of response".
- JUNE 21, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. DEADLOCK OVER CHINA DEATH PENALTY
it was reported that a man suspected of murdering a Chinese student and leaving her body to rot for six months in a Canberra apartment could get away with the crime because Australian authorities were refusing to help the investigation, fearing he could b
- JUNE 10, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. GOVERNMENT TO PLEAD FOR DRUG SMUGGLER FACING FIRING SQUAD IN VIETNAM
the Australian federal government said it would plead for the life of Mai Cong Thanh, an Australian sentenced to death in Vietnam for conspiring to smuggle heroin.
- JUNE 9, 2005AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM. AUSTRALIAN-VIETNAMESE RECEIVES DEATH SENTENCE FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
a Vietnam court has sentenced a 46-year-old Australian of Vietnamese origin to death by firing squad for attempting to send heroin stuffed in loudspeakers to Australia, the state-run Voice of Vietnam radio said.