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
- MAY 10, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Chinese government systematically hunts down starving...
The Chinese government systematically hunts down starving North Korean refugees and sends them home to face detention in prison camps and possible execution, said Jean Ziegler, the United Nation's special rapporteur on the right to food
- MAY 10, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In its initial trial, the Kunming Intermediate People's...
In its initial trial, the Kunming Intermediate People's Court in Yunnan Province, China, sentenced Tan Minglin, to death and confiscation of all personal assets for smuggling, trafficking, and transporting drugs
- MAY 7, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On occasion of the visit to Italy of Chinese Prime...
On occasion of the visit to Italy of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jibao, the Italian government and the Italian economists seemed positively impressed solely by the figures associated with Chinese development
- MAY 5, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Canada's parliament launched a wide-ranging probe into...
Canada's parliament launched a wide-ranging probe into China's human rights record, with damning evidence of the treatment meted out to Tibetans by Beijing
- MAY 5, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Chinese court in Yunnan province, Southwest China,...
A Chinese court in Yunnan province, Southwest China, pronounced null and void the death penalty handed down to Russian citizen Yelena Timchenko who was arrested at Kunming airport for carrying more than one kilogram of heroin in 2001
- APRIL 30, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six were sentenced to death in Beijing for collectively...
Six were sentenced to death in Beijing for collectively killing six prostitutes after having sex with them
- APRIL 30, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Huang Jianhu was sentenced to death in Taiyuan, in...
Huang Jianhu was sentenced to death in Taiyuan, in northern China's Shanxi province, for premeditated murder, rape and armed robbery after he was convicted of killing 12 prostitutes between 1997 and 2003
- APRIL 29, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Taichung High Court, China, sentenced ship captain...
The Taichung High Court, China, sentenced ship captain Wang Chung-hsing to death and a crewman Ke Ching-sung to life imprisonment for manslaughter after seven women from the Chinese mainland drowned after being thrown overboard
- APRIL 27, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Cracking down on rat poison that had been used for...
Cracking down on rat poison that had been used for mass murder, a court in China's Henan province issued a suspended death sentence to Fan Yuemin for making and selling the toxin
- APRIL 24, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ma Jiajue was sentenced to death deprived of his political...
Ma Jiajue was sentenced to death deprived of his political rights for life by the Kunming Intermediate People's Court, in southwest China's Yunnan Province, after he was convicted of killing four fellow students
- APRIL 23, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Falun Gong members sued Chinese Commerce Minister Bo...
Falun Gong members sued Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai in US federal court for acts of genocide and torture which they said he carried out against them while a provincial governor
- APRIL 21, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China voted against the resolution on the death penalty...
China voted against the resolution on the death penalty at the 60th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 17, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Tibetan activists expressed dismay after the UN Human...
Tibetan activists expressed dismay after the UN Human Rights Commission threw out a US-sponsored resolution condemning China, saying the rights situation remained poor in Tibet
- APRIL 16, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Yu Zhendong, a man accused of the biggest embezzlement...
Yu Zhendong, a man accused of the biggest embezzlement in recent Chinese history, was extradited from Las Vegas to Beijing
- APRIL 15, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai No
The Shanghai No
- APRIL 12, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997.
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997.
- APRIL 10, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Taiwanese nationals Suo Guizhi and Chen Qingbiao were...
Taiwanese nationals Suo Guizhi and Chen Qingbiao were sentenced to death and three others were given jail terms after court in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai convicted them of drug trafficking
- APRIL 9, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Wong Hoi-bun, a Hong Kong businessman who killed and...
Wong Hoi-bun, a Hong Kong businessman who killed and dismembered a Philippine Chinese man that he had kidnapped from a Shenzhen hotel with two accomplices on February 19, 1995, was executed in Shenzhen, China
- APRIL 9, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Lai Changxing, the alleged mastermind of a vast Chinese...
Lai Changxing, the alleged mastermind of a vast Chinese smuggling ring who said he faced execution if expelled to China was denied asylum in Canada
- APRIL 8, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Eleven convicted criminals were executed in China after...
Eleven convicted criminals were executed in China after being paraded in a stadium where the rejections of their appeals were publicly read out
- APRIL 8, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Liu Xiaojun was sentenced to death after being convicted...
Liu Xiaojun was sentenced to death after being convicted by the Intermediate People's Court of Tieling City, in northeast China's Liaoning Province, of leading a 34 member criminal gang
- APRIL 6, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Muhubuer Zhumabayi, a 27-year-old Kazak national, was...
Muhubuer Zhumabayi, a 27-year-old Kazak national, was sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court in Xian, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, after being convicted of killing a fellow villager with a knife on 6 July 2003
- APRIL 6, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
seven men named Song Baoliang, Li Yong, Wang Zhen, Liu Qisheng...
seven men named Song Baoliang, Li Yong, Wang Zhen, Liu Qisheng...
- APRIL 2, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three people received the death penalty in Guangzhou...
Three people received the death penalty in Guangzhou city three people were sentenced to death by the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court for their role in the largest ecstasy and ice trafficking case in China
- APRIL 2, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
in its initial trial, the Jiaozuo Intermediate People's Court in Henan Province...
in its initial trial, the Jiaozuo Intermediate People's Court in Henan Province...
- MARCH 31, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that China executed two men extradited...
It was reported that China executed two men extradited from neighboring Kyrgyzstan who were convicted of murdering a Chinese diplomat and his driver in the Central Asian country
- MARCH 25, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
South Korea was trying to confirm reports that about...
South Korea was trying to confirm reports that about 100 North Korean refugees at a detention centre in China were on hunger strike to protest plans to repatriate them
- MARCH 22, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Xu Lijie, 42, was sentenced to death by the Bozhou...
Xu Lijie, 42, was sentenced to death by the Bozhou City Intermediate People's Court of east China's Anhui Province
- MARCH 22, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International called for a moratorium on the...
Amnesty International called for a moratorium on the death penalty in China, saying the country's dysfunctional criminal justice system meant many innocent people were being executed
- MARCH 22, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ten people convicted of violent robbery and kidnapping...
Ten people convicted of violent robbery and kidnapping were sentenced to death in southern China's Shenzhen city, with four of them given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve