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
JANUARY 28, 2016ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TAJIK NATIONAL EXECUTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Tajik Foreign Ministry officials told RFE/RL that Hasan Yusufov, 51, was executed early in the morning.
- JANUARY 1, 2016ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In February 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes
In February 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes
- DECEMBER 27, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China passed a controversial new anti-terrorism law that attracted deep concern in Western capitals, not
China passed a controversial new anti-terrorism law that attracted deep concern in Western capitals, not
- DECEMBER 14, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR WIFE OF FALLEN POLITBURO MEMBER BO XILAI
A Beijing court has recommended that the death sentence for the wife of fallen Politburo member Bo Xilai
- DECEMBER 11, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MEDICAL STUDENT EXECUTED FOR POISONING
A Chinese medical student who murdered his roommate at a prestigious Shanghai university by poisoning a drinking water dispenser was executed, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
DECEMBER 3, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER, FRAUD AT SHANXI MINES
Four people were sentenced to death in north China's Shanxi Province for murder, fraud and blackmail in a
NOVEMBER 25, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TRANSPLANT CHIEF DENIES BREAKING VOW TO BAN PRISONERS’ ORGANS
A top Chinese health official has denied that the country’s new organ transplant system allows organs to be
OCTOBER 17, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: HK MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN BEIJING
A Hong Kong businessman who was caught with 24 kg of cocaine in his suitcases at Beijing Capital
AUGUST 29, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: CRIMES SUBJECT TO DEATH REDUCED
China amended the country's criminal law, tightening corruption sentencing, reclassifying sex with underage prostitutes as rape and eliminating the death penalty for nine crimes, state media reported.
- JULY 9, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
THAILAND CONDEMNED FOR REPATRIATION OF 109 UIGHURS TO CHINA
Thailand deported more than 100 Uighurs back to China, ignoring concerns that the ethnic minority faces persecution by the Chinese government, while protesters in Turkey, which had accepted an earlier batch of refugees, ransacked the Thai Consulate.
- JUNE 24, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: THREE DRUG SMUGGLERS EXECUTED
three people were executed in the largest drug case to be heard in Liaoning Province.
JUNE 16, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KINDERGARTEN FOOD POISONING
A Chinese woman was sentenced to death for killing two kindergarten pupils with poisonous snacks in
- MAY 25, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA EXECUTES PATIENT WHO STABBED DOCTOR TO DEATH OVER NOSE OPERATION
China executed a man who stabbed a doctor to death over what he considered a botched nose operation,
- MAY 15, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER AFTER 17 YEARS
A former Chinese police officer was sentenced to death for homicide, 17 years after the murdered woman's
- APRIL 25, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DRUG SMUGGLER EXECUTED FOR SMUGGLING
A drug trafficker was executed in south China’s Guangdong Province following approval by the Supreme People’s Court.
APRIL 2, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: AUSTRALIAN MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
A Queensland man has been sentenced to death in China after being caught trying to smuggle methamphetamine to Australia.
MARCH 24, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: THREE PEOPLE EXECUTED FOR KUNMING RAILWAY STATION ATTACK
three people were executed for a mass stabbing that killed 31 people at a train station in Kunming in March 2014, China’s Supreme People’s Court announced in a microblog post, with authorities blaming the attack on separatists from mainly Muslim Xinjiang.
- MARCH 19, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR ARSONIST OVER LAND DISPUTE
A man has been sentenced to death in east China's Shandong province for setting a fatal fire in a dispute over land rights in March 2014.
MARCH 5, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN RECEIVES DEATH SENTENCE FOR MOLESTING BABY
A man has been sentenced to death with a reprieve in China for the sexual abuse of a two-and-a half-year-
FEBRUARY 17, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN GETS $189,000 FOR SIX YEARS ON DEATH ROW
A Chinese man who was freed after six years on death row following a wrongful murder conviction was
- FEBRUARY 15, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA TO REQUIRE POLICE TO FILM ALL INTERROGATIONS
China will require police to film and record all interrogations in criminal cases to ensure that law enforcement
FEBRUARY 9, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MINING TYCOON LIU HAN EXECUTED
A Chinese mining billionaire said to have links with disgraced former security tsar Zhou Yongkang and who
- FEBRUARY 1, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: 2 FROM BANNED SECT EXECUTED FOR MURDER AT MCDONALD'S
A father and daughter have been executed in China for attacking and killing a woman who had refused to
- JANUARY 10, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: SCHOOL DEPUTY PRINCIPAL EXECUTED FOR KIDNAPPING, KILLING GIRL
Yang Haijun, former deputy principal of a primary school in north China's Hebei Province, was executed for
- JANUARY 1, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In February 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes
In February 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes
- DECEMBER 26, 2014ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: JAPANESE, KOREAN DRUG DEALERS SENTENCED
Six people nabbed in a cross-border drug trafficking case in China, including one Japanese and two
- DECEMBER 8, 2014ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA SENTENCES EIGHT TO DEATH FOR KNIFE, BOMB ATTACKS IN RESTIVE XINJIANG
China sentenced eight people to death for their roles in two knife and bomb attacks this spring in the
- DECEMBER 4, 2014ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA TO STOP HARVESTING EXECUTED PRISONERS' ORGANS
China has promised to stop harvesting organs from executed prisoners by 1 January, state media report.
OCTOBER 31, 2014ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN WHO KILLED TODDLER IN PARKING ROW EXECUTED
A Chinese man who killed a two-year-old girl after a row with her mother over a parking space was
- OCTOBER 31, 2014ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DEATH PENALTY UPHELD FOR THREE WHO LED MASS STABBING IN KUNMING
A Chinese appeal court has upheld death sentences for three people convicted over a mass stabbing this