China
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · In January, the Nanyang Intermediate People's Court...
- News items in the archive
- 2,785
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
China is classified as Retentionist 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 2,785 news items on China, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- JUNE 20, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER
XU Yuhua, a Jiangxi Province farmer...
- JUNE 19, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
EX-STUDENT'S DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDERING COUPLE UPHELD
the Supreme Court in Japan upheld a lower court decision sentencing a former Chinese graduate student to death for killing a compatriot student and her Chinese husband in 2000 after his overtures to her were rejected
- JUNE 18, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE MAN GETS DEATH FOR MURDER OVER STOCK LOSSES
Li Gongxin, from the northeastern city of Harbin, China...
- JUNE 17, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA CONSIDERS CASH FOR CLEMENCY
Under pressure to reduce its huge number of annual executions as it prepares
- JUNE 14, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. CAPITAL CASES MORE TRANSPARENT
trials that could lead to a death sentence will be subjected to further openness and transparency in
- JUNE 12, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
FORMER CHINA FOOD AND DRUG BOSS APPEALS DEATH SENTENCE
the former head of China's food and drug agency has appealed his death sentence on a corruption
- JUNE 10, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: TEACHER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING STUDENTS
a teacher in northwestern China was sentenced to death for raping 18 primary school girls, the second such case in the same area, state media reported.
- JUNE 8, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. FEWER EXECUTIONS AFTER LEGAL REFORM
The number of people executed has dropped in the first five months of the year after the Supreme People's
- JUNE 8, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING 6 PEOPLE IN E CHINA
a Chinese man was sentenced to death for murder, rape and burglary and fined 520,000 yuan, according to a ruling by a court in east China.
- JUNE 7, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
RIGHTS IMAGE HAUNTS CHINA BEFORE GAMES: CAMPAIGNER
China has executed far fewer people since being awarded the 2008 Olympics six years ago but the
- MAY 29, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA SENTENCES FORMER DRUG REGULATOR TO DEATH
the former head of China's top food and drug safety agency was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to
- MAY 28, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA SEEKS EXTRADITION PACTS IN SPITE OF DEATH PENALTY
China has called on Western countries to put aside fears about its death penalty and sign
- MAY 15, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a court in central China has sentenced Li Litian, a policeman...
a court in central China has sentenced Li Litian, a policeman...
- MAY 15, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIAN WOMAN FACING DEATH IN CHINA FOR SMUGGLING DRUGS
Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim, a 24 year old woman from Kelantan, was sentenced to death by the Guangzhou High Court in China for trafficking in 2,983 grammes of heroin.
- APRIL 30, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN RECEIVES DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER
the Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court issued the death penalty to a robber who killed an elderly shop worker for a few hundred yuan.
- APRIL 16, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE WOMAN, 80, RECEIVES SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE IN DRUGS CASE
an 80 year old woman received a suspended death sentence in southern China for smuggling opium to pay for her grave plot, the official Xinhua News Agency reported
- APRIL 10, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE SAUSAGE SELLER SPARED EXECUTION
a Chinese roadside sausage seller was given a suspended death sentence for slitting a government inspector's throat
- MARCH 25, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
DUO MAY FACE FIRING SQUAD FOR DRUG CRIMES IF DEPORTED
two illegal immigrants who worked on one of Scotland's biggest cannabis farms face execution when deported, their lawyer claimed.
- MARCH 20, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
FRANCE, CHINA SIGN EXTRADITION TREATY
France's justice minister said an extradition treaty signed with China would not be applied to people accused of political or military crimes.
- MARCH 19, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA'S HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCES FOR FOUR CONVICTS
China's highest court has approved four death sentences for violent crimes in its first rulings since being handed the power of final approval on capital punishment earlier this year, state press said.
- MARCH 19, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA EPILEPTIC MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DANGEROUS DRIVING
a court in Beihai, in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, sentenced a man to death with a two year grace period.
- MARCH 15, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA METES OUT LEAST NUMBER OF DEATH SENTENCES IN '06
The number of death sentences meted out last year by Chinese courts hit a record low in more than a
- MARCH 13, 2007CanadaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA PROMISES NOT TO EXECUTE CITIZEN IF REPATRIATED FROM CANADA
China promised not to sentence accused smuggler Lai Changxing to death because this was essential to have him repatriated from Canada, a Supreme Court spokesman said.
- MARCH 13, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA DEATH PENALTY FOR DOUBLE MURDER
the Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Liu Xinglei to death for murder.
- MARCH 11, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MORE CAUTIOUSLY HANDLING OF DEATH PENALTY CASES URGED
China's four major law enforcement agencies called for more cautiously handling death penalty cases by jointly issuing a document.
- MARCH 8, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR CHINESE STUDENT
Fukuoka High Court, in Japan, upheld the death penalty for a former vocational...
- FEBRUARY 27, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. HIGHEST COURT TO ORDER PROVINCES TO RETRY DEATH SENTENCES
China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) will send back cases involving death sentence to provincial courts for retrial if it finds errors in judgement, instead of directly changing the sentence, according to a regulation released by the SPC.
- FEBRUARY 15, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH IN ANT-BREEDING SCHEME
Chinese court has ordered the death penalty for a businessman accused of deceiving investors out of 385
- FEBRUARY 8, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. EXECUTION OF MUSLIM SEPARATIST
China executed an alleged Muslim separatist with a bullet through the heart. Ismail Semed, an Uighur from
- FEBRUARY 7, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
GANG MEMBERS CONVICTED IN CHINESE CRIME CASE
an organized crime boss was given a suspended death sentence in China.