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
- 2,796
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 2,796 news items on China, from 1999 to today.
China is believed to carry out more executions than any other country, but the figure is a state secret: no official statistics exist, and the known cases are those reported by the press or heard in public trials. Capital punishment applies to a large number of offences, including economic and drug offences, and the system also provides for a death sentence with a two year suspension, which in practice is often converted into life imprisonment.
The news on this page is a small part of what happens, and it is the part that can be documented.
Latest news
- MARCH 26, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Regional Court in Brno, Czech Republic, decided...
The Regional Court in Brno, Czech Republic, decided not extradite Chinese citizen Wen-min Zhang to China on fears he could be executed
- MARCH 22, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
State media reported that two murderers, one who beat...
State media reported that two murderers, one who beat his parents to death with a metal bar and one who killed his wife with rat poison, were executed in the Chinese capital Beijing
- MARCH 21, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Qiao Jinming, convicted by the Second Intermediate...
Qiao Jinming, convicted by the Second Intermediate People's Court of Beijing of poisoning his wife, was sentenced to death
- MARCH 20, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The EU External Relations Council expressed serious...
The EU External Relations Council expressed serious concern over China's lack of respect for human rights, particularly the death penalty and torture, arbitrary detention, repression of all kinds (freedom of expression, religion and association) and actio
- MARCH 19, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China executed three men for killing taxi drivers in...
China executed three men for killing taxi drivers in and around the nation's capital, the official Xinhua News Agency reported
- MARCH 18, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The European Union said it would raise its concerns...
The European Union said it would raise its concerns over China's human rights record, including its frequent use of the death penalty, at this month's annual gathering of the UN Human Rights Commission
- MARCH 18, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The European Union said it would raise its concerns...
The European Union said it would raise its concerns over China's human rights record, including its frequent use of the death penalty, at this month's annual gathering of the UN Human Rights Commission
- MARCH 13, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The People's High Court in the eastern province of...
The People's High Court in the eastern province of Zhejiang announced that Yan Liang, 31, an employee of China Unicom's Quzhou branch, had been executed on terrorist charges for sending a mail bomb that killed his boss
- MARCH 12, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai No
The Shanghai No
- MARCH 12, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai Higher People's Court sentenced Chen Tongbao...
The Shanghai Higher People's Court sentenced Chen Tongbao to death for murder
- MARCH 11, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China's top law enforcement officials promised redoubled...
China's top law enforcement officials promised redoubled efforts to crush terrorists, ethnic separatists, Falun Gong activists and others who they said threaten national security and economic progress
- MARCH 11, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A report released by China's supreme court president...
A report released by China's supreme court president to the National People's Congress revealed that over 800,000 Chinese had been sentenced to death or to life behind bars since 1998
- MARCH 8, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The People's High Court in the eastern province of...
The People's High Court in the eastern province of Zhejiang announced that Yan Liang, 31, an employee of China Unicom's Quzhou branch, had been executed on terrorist charges
- MARCH 7, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai Railway Intermediate People's Court sentenced...
The Shanghai Railway Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang Jianli to death for murder
- MARCH 7, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China has developed a "mobile execution vehicle" to...
China has developed a "mobile execution vehicle" to make capital punishment easier to deliver, state press said
- MARCH 7, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai Railway Intermediate People's Court sentenced...
The Shanghai Railway Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang Jianli to death for murder
- MARCH 6, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China executed two people by lethal injection in southwestern...
China executed two people by lethal injection in southwestern Yunnan province
- MARCH 1, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Two high-ranking officials from central China's Hunan...
Two high-ranking officials from central China's Hunan Province were sentenced to death with a two-year suspension after being convicted of corruption and bribery
- MARCH 1, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Yunnan Provincial Higher People's Court announced...
The Yunnan Provincial Higher People's Court announced that lethal injection would be used in carrying out the death penalty throughout the province
- FEBRUARY 28, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six people sentenced to death for murder were executed...
Six people sentenced to death for murder were executed in Beijing
- FEBRUARY 27, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Four brothers who killed a person in a holdup with...
Four brothers who killed a person in a holdup with homemade guns were sentenced to death in south China's Guangdong Province
- FEBRUARY 25, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China retains the death penalty because the public...
China retains the death penalty because the public still supports the ultimate punishment, but Beijing has taken steps to restrict its use and turn to more humane ways of executing criminals, said a Beijing-based academic
- FEBRUARY 21, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Xia Renfan, the former general manager of the Shenyang...
Xia Renfan, the former general manager of the Shenyang Passenger Transportation Group, was sentenced to death for embezzlement and accepting bribes, the China News Service reported
- FEBRUARY 20, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Slovenian association for supporting Tibet staged...
The Slovenian association for supporting Tibet staged a peaceful rally in front of the Chinese embassy in Ljubljana over the recent execution of Tibetan Lobsang Dhondup
- FEBRUARY 20, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three Hong Kong men were sentenced to death by a mainland...
Three Hong Kong men were sentenced to death by a mainland court for trafficking and selling more than 126kg of Ice
- FEBRUARY 18, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six people charged with trafficking and selling drugs...
Six people charged with trafficking and selling drugs were sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court of Zhanjiang, in south China's Guangdong Province, in the case's first trial
- FEBRUARY 17, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai No
The Shanghai No
- FEBRUARY 13, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Guo Chunhu, 25, and Guo Chunbao, 23, two brothers convicted...
Guo Chunhu, 25, and Guo Chunbao, 23, two brothers convicted of producing fraudulent value added tax invoices were sentenced to death with two years' suspension by the No 1 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing
- FEBRUARY 13, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Guo Chunhu, 25, and Guo Chunbao, 23, two brothers convicted...
Guo Chunhu, 25, and Guo Chunbao, 23, two brothers convicted of producing fraudulent value added tax invoices were sentenced to death with two years' suspension by the No 1 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing
- FEBRUARY 13, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that Ma Lijun, a tourism official from...
It was reported that Ma Lijun, a tourism official from the province of Shaanxi, was sentenced to death for burning down a local Taoist temple because of a personal grudge