Italy
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1998
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- NOVEMBER 12, 1998 · On 12 November 1998, Kurd leader Abdullah Ocalan,...
- News items in the archive
- 712
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Italy is classified as Abolitionist 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 712 news items on Italy, from 1998 to today.
Italy abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in the Constitution of 1948, removed it from the military penal code of war in 1994 and, in 2007, amended article 27 of the Constitution to delete the last reference to it. Since then it has supported a universal moratorium in international forums.
The Italian news in this archive concerns above all the association's other front: conditions inside places of detention, meaning overcrowding, suicides, access to care, life imprisonment without parole and alternative measures, together with the prison visits the association carries out and publishes reports on.
Latest news
- APRIL 10, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain refutes the news that Amina Lawal has...
Hands Off Cain refutes the news that Amina Lawal has been condemned to death by the Supreme Court of her State of Katsina and that her stoning is now imminent
- FEBRUARY 28, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The dossier says that around 4,000 people were executed...
The dossier says that around 4,000 people were executed in the Abu Ghraib prison in the first reported prison 'cleansing' campaign in 1984
- FEBRUARY 28, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Mass executions, prisoner torture, beheadings, amputations...
Mass executions, prisoner torture, beheadings, amputations and disappearances in Iraq make up the chilling content of The death penalty and more under Saddam Hussein, a dossier compiled by Hands Off Cain released in Rome
- FEBRUARY 28, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
HANDS OFF CAIN DOSSIER ON THE DEATH PENALTY AND MASS EXECUTIONS IN IRAQ
February 28, 2003: mass executions, prisoner torture, beheadings, amputations and disappearances in Iraq make up the chilling content of The death penalty and more under Saddam Hussein, a dossier compiled by Hands Off Cain released in Rome on Friday. The
- JANUARY 8, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
La Goccia starring famed Italian actor Remo Girone...
La Goccia starring famed Italian actor Remo Girone and directed by rookie Marco Lanzafame premiered in Bagheria, Sicily
- JANUARY 1, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy became totally abolitionist in 1994, when the...
Italy became totally abolitionist in 1994, when the death penalty was abolished from the Military Codes
- JANUARY 1, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The last execution took place on March 4, 1947, in...
The last execution took place on March 4, 1947, in Turin, where three men from Villarbasse, Giovanni D' Ignoti, Giovanni Puleo and Francesco La Barbero, were shot at a rifle range just outside the city
- JANUARY 1, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy has signed but not yet ratified Protocol No 13...
Italy has signed but not yet ratified Protocol No 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms banning the death penalty in all circumstances
- NOVEMBER 28, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain, which sustains the appeal made yesterday...
Hands Off Cain, which sustains the appeal made yesterday by the Christian leaders of Nigeria urging the federal government to take precautionary measures for the Christian community by calling on the Italian government and the European Union to take actio
- NOVEMBER 26, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Islamic authorities in the northern Nigerian state...
Islamic authorities in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara issued a fatwa urging Muslims to kill Isioma Daniel, a writer for the private daily This Day, whose November 16 article about the Miss World pageant sparked deadly riots across the country
- NOVEMBER 25, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The relocation of the Miss World Contest away from...
The relocation of the Miss World Contest away from the Nigerian capital Abuja dealt a resounding setback to the process of democracy in Nigeria, Hands Off Cain said
- NOVEMBER 21, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
At least 10 people were killed after thousands of rioting...
At least 10 people were killed after thousands of rioting Muslim youths torched churches, looted shops and destroyed vehicles in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna amid rising Muslim fury over the country's staging of the Miss World pageant
- OCTOBER 18, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed full...
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed full support for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty in a meeting with a Hands Off Cain delegation in Abuja
- OCTOBER 10, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Senator Marcello Pera, president of the Italian Senate...
Senator Marcello Pera, president of the Italian Senate received a delegation of representatives of groups fighting for democracy and religious freedom and freedom of expression in China and Vietnam
- OCTOBER 9, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
During a press conference attended by Deputy Chair...
During a press conference attended by Deputy Chair of the EU Praliament, Renzo Imbeni, Hands Off Cain called on Miss World participants to attend the beauty contest due to be held in Nigeria in December and spotlight Amina Lawal's plight by taking a stand
- OCTOBER 9, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
During a press conference attended by Deputy Chair...
During a press conference attended by Deputy Chair of the EU Praliament, Renzo Imbeni, Hands Off Cain called on Miss World participants to attend the beauty contest due to be held in Nigeria in December and spotlight Amina Lawal's plight by taking a stand
- OCTOBER 9, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Human Rights Committee of the Foreign Affairs Commission...
The Human Rights Committee of the Foreign Affairs Commission at the Italian Chamber of representatives held the first ever hearing on religious freedom with particular emphasis on China and Vietnam
- OCTOBER 9, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
"On December 2, 2000 three of our brothers, Siu Seo,...
"On December 2, 2000 three of our brothers, Siu Seo, Siu Ai and Nay Glel were arrested by Vietnamese Cong An security forces on the Montagnard village of Plei Jo Ning
- SEPTEMBER 30, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Rome's Colosseum was to be bathed in golden light on...
Rome's Colosseum was to be bathed in golden light on the nights of September 30 and October 1 to celebrate the Philippines' decision to suspend death row executions, Rome's city council said
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain demonstrated in front of the UN Rome...
Hands Off Cain demonstrated in front of the UN Rome headquarters to urge the Italian government to present a censure resolution of human rights violations in Iran at the current UN General Assembly in New York
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italian police, acting on a tip from US intelligence...
Italian police, acting on a tip from US intelligence officials, arrested 15 Pakistanis allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaida network
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Safiya Hussaini, the Nigerian woman sentenced to death...
Safiya Hussaini, the Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in Nigeria, and saved in part by worldwide mobilisation in her favour, has become a citizen of Rome
- JULY 31, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy refused to extradite a Rumanian national to Turkey...
Italy refused to extradite a Rumanian national to Turkey to face murder charges
- JULY 31, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy refused to extradite a Rumanian national to Turkey...
Italy refused to extradite a Rumanian national to Turkey to face murder charges
- JULY 23, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
On initiative of Hands off Cain, the Human Rights Commission...
On initiative of Hands off Cain, the Human Rights Commission of the Italian Senate granted an informal hearing on the freedom of cult and expression to Uighur and Falun Gong representatives
- JUNE 28, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy intends to front the campaign for a global moratorium...
Italy intends to front the campaign for a global moratorium on executions through a UN resolution following the defeat of the same proposal at the UN General Assembly in 1999, the Italian Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs Mario Baccini said at the launc
- JUNE 26, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni illustrated the new lighting...
Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni illustrated the new lighting project on the city's famed Colosseum and said it will serve to draw greater attention to the city's campaign against the death penalty because "every time an execution is suspended anywhere in the w
- MAY 3, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy signed Protocol 13 to the European Convention...
Italy signed Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which ensures the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances
- APRIL 25, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy was a cosponsor and voted for the resolution...
Italy was a cosponsor and voted for the resolution 2002/77 on the death penalty at the 58th UN Commission on Human Rights
- MARCH 26, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hundreds of people flocked to the Stazione Leopolda...
Hundreds of people flocked to the Stazione Leopolda in Florence yesterday for a concert-debate against the death penalty that was also an occasion to celebrate Safiya's release