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
- APRIL 7, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Five members of a mafia-style gang were executed in...
Five members of a mafia-style gang were executed in Shandong province and 52 others jailed for their involvement in a range of serious crimes including murder and kidnapping, AFP quoted Xinhua as saying
- APRIL 5, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Relations between China and Europe are in full flower,...
Relations between China and Europe are in full flower, yet both sides must commit to candidly discussing any remaining differences - especially human rights and trade practices, the European Union's commissioner for external relations said
- APRIL 5, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Relations between China and Europe are in full flower,...
Relations between China and Europe are in full flower, yet both sides must commit to candidly discussing any remaining differences - especially human rights and trade practices, the European Union's commissioner for external relations said
- MARCH 30, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A woman who amassed a fortune after bribing and corrupting...
A woman who amassed a fortune after bribing and corrupting officials with sexual favours lost her appeal against the death sentence
- MARCH 26, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The director of a state-owned business was sentenced...
The director of a state-owned business was sentenced to death in the southern Chinese province of Hainan for embezzling $8
- MARCH 26, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China's banned Falun Gong movement accused the communist...
China's banned Falun Gong movement accused the communist authorities of rounding up 5000 of its followers in a police sweep in northeast China in which it claimed up to 100 members were killed
- MARCH 25, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Li Jianqiang, a former general manager of Hong Kong-based...
Li Jianqiang, a former general manager of Hong Kong-based Dongzhan Industrial Company Limited, was sentenced to death with two years' reprieve for embezzlement
- MARCH 22, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Chinese authorities have detained thousands of...
The Chinese authorities have detained thousands of Muslims in Xinjiang region in the north-west since September 11 [2001], claiming that local separatists are linked to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, Amnesty International said
- MARCH 22, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanxi Daily reported that Linfen Municipal Intermediate...
The Shanxi Daily reported that Linfen Municipal Intermediate People's Court sentenced to death Xue Wenxun, director of Hongtong County Urban Construction Bureau, for his involvement in an explosives and murder case which killed three people
- MARCH 15, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Zhang Kexiao, a senior official in charge of construction...
Zhang Kexiao, a senior official in charge of construction in Wuhan, Hubei province, was handed a death sentence suspended for two years for taking bribes and abusing his influence, the Beijing Youth Daily reported
- MARCH 14, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Sixteen Falun Gong members were arrested after being...
Sixteen Falun Gong members were arrested after being accused of causing an obstruction during a demonstration outside Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong's Western District
- MARCH 14, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The leader of a pirate gang that robbed cargo boats...
The leader of a pirate gang that robbed cargo boats on a busy stretch of the Yangtze River was executed, a court official told AP
- MARCH 11, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China plans to increase the use of lethal injections...
China plans to increase the use of lethal injections to execute criminals as a "civilised way of law enforcement", the official Xinhua news agency said
- MARCH 11, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The European Union vowed to keep pressuring China over...
The European Union vowed to keep pressuring China over its human rights record and urged Beijing to curtail its frequent use of the death penalty
- MARCH 11, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The fifteen EU member countries will express "their...
The fifteen EU member countries will express "their deep concern over serious human rights violations in China and lack of progress in several areas" before the UN Human rights Commission's 58th session in Geneva
- MARCH 11, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In 2001 a total 150,913 criminals were sentenced to...
In 2001 a total 150,913 criminals were sentenced to imprisonment of five years or more, to life imprisonment, or to death penalty; an increase of 15
- MARCH 10, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In its final trial the Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's...
In its final trial the Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court sentenced Jiang Deping to death, the Xinhua Daily reported
- MARCH 7, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A spokesman for the banned Falun Gong group claimed...
A spokesman for the banned Falun Gong group claimed that Chinese security forces have been ordered to shoot members of the banned cult caught posting banners and signs in public
- MARCH 5, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Police arrested about 60 people who were trying to...
Police arrested about 60 people who were trying to air grievances to the NPC, said two protesters who were detained
- MARCH 5, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Shantou Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Guangdong...
Shantou Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Guangdong Province, announced the final verdicts of the death sentences of drug traffickers Chen Kexin, Zheng Shaodong and Ma Hongguang, the Guangzhou Daily reported
- MARCH 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Two members of a criminal gang who battered people...
Two members of a criminal gang who battered people to death with a hammer and robbed them of valuable items were executed in Beijing
- MARCH 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Bengbu Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Anhui...
Bengbu Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Anhui Province, sentenced Zhou Qidong, member of the Municipal Standing Committee, to death for intentional homicide
- FEBRUARY 27, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Two men were sentenced to death by Shanghai No 1 Intermediate...
Two men were sentenced to death by Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court for murdering a police officer on February 8 in the city's Pudong New Area
- FEBRUARY 26, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A non-legislative report by Vasco Graga Moura (EPP-ED,...
A non-legislative report by Vasco Graga Moura (EPP-ED, P) on the Commission's paper on an EU strategy towards China was adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee with one vote against and two abstentions
- FEBRUARY 26, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A non-legislative report by Vasco Graga Moura (EPP-ED,...
A non-legislative report by Vasco Graga Moura (EPP-ED, P) on the Commission's paper on an EU strategy towards China was adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee with one vote against and two abstentions
- FEBRUARY 25, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Angry laid-off workers and their relatives killed three...
Angry laid-off workers and their relatives killed three managers at financially struggling, state-owned enterprises in central China in 2001, state media and local officials said
- FEBRUARY 24, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Religious tolerance in China is unlikely to follow...
Religious tolerance in China is unlikely to follow in the wake of economic liberalism
- FEBRUARY 22, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Saitama District Court sentenced a 28-year-old...
The Saitama District Court sentenced a 28-year-old Chinese man, formerly a graduate student in Japan, to death for killing his girlfriend and her husband
- FEBRUARY 14, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The family of the South China Church leader Gong Shengliang,...
The family of the South China Church leader Gong Shengliang, sentenced to death along with his relative Li Ying and three other church members on a range of criminal charges in a closed trial in December 2001, is fighting to secure his release
- FEBRUARY 11, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China released a Hong Kong businessman jailed for Bible...
China released a Hong Kong businessman jailed for Bible smuggling, following intense diplomatic pressure from America in the run-up to a visit to Beijing by President Bush