Kenya
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist de facto
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Murder, treason and armed robbery are capital crimes
- News items in the archive
- 328
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Kenya is classified as Abolitionist de facto 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 328 news items on Kenya, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
David Kibet Birir and Joel Koskei were sentenced to...
David Kibet Birir and Joel Koskei were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of violently robbing a housewife of cash in Londiani on April 14, 2002
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Wilson Tuwei Maritim and Richard Kimutai Maritim were...
Wilson Tuwei Maritim and Richard Kimutai Maritim were sentenced to death by Senior Resident Magistrate Richard Kirui for violently robbing a farmer of cash and a half-kilo of meat
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
East Africa's prison bosses said the death penalty...
East Africa's prison bosses said the death penalty was outdated and should be scrapped, adding that it was not a solution in the rehabilitation of prisoners
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
The heads of prisons departments in three East African...
The heads of prisons departments in three East African countries, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, have urged authorities in the region to abolish the death sentence
- AUGUST 28, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Charles Waiguru Wamuhito, convicted of violently robbing...
Charles Waiguru Wamuhito, convicted of violently robbing his brother of Sh400 was sentenced to death
- AUGUST 22, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Michael Mucheru Gatu, 40, was sentenced to death for...
Michael Mucheru Gatu, 40, was sentenced to death for killing five members of his family
- JULY 17, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
The Court of Appeal has ordered the re-trial of a man...
The Court of Appeal has ordered the re-trial of a man who has been languishing in prison for the last six years awaiting to be hanged
- JULY 12, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Kenyan prisons abandoned the kunguru - the old prison...
Kenyan prisons abandoned the kunguru - the old prison uniform in use for over a century - for more fashionable attire
- JUNE 15, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
The Standing Committee on Human Rights appointed by...
The Standing Committee on Human Rights appointed by the government said only a half of the 40,000 prisoners should be in prison while the rest should have been freed on bond or held at police stations
- MAY 29, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
A convict who moved to the Eldoret High Court to appeal...
A convict who moved to the Eldoret High Court to appeal a seven-year jail sentence for robbery was instead sentenced to death
- MAY 29, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International described the conditions in Kenya's...
Amnesty International described the conditions in Kenya's prisons as "harsh" and criticised the authorities for refusing to allow human rights organisations access to prisoners
- MAY 16, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Eleven prison officers appeared in a Nairobi Court...
Eleven prison officers appeared in a Nairobi Court charged with the murder of six inmates at Nyeri prison, popularly known as King'ong'o
- MAY 13, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
The Appelate Bench sitting in Nyeri criticised a High...
The Appelate Bench sitting in Nyeri criticised a High Court judge for what it described as "contradictory logic" while passing sentence on five members of the same family charged with murder
- MAY 2, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
A record 221 million shilling [about 2
A record 221 million shilling [about 2
- APRIL 25, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Kenya abstained from the resolution 2002/77 on the...
Kenya abstained from the resolution 2002/77 on the death penalty at the 58th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 19, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
A mother of four was sentenced to death by a Kenyan...
A mother of four was sentenced to death by a Kenyan High Court for murdering her nine-year-old niece
- APRIL 4, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
A man was sentenced to death for violently stealing...
A man was sentenced to death for violently stealing a mobile telephone and Sh300
- FEBRUARY 8, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
The six King'ong'o prisoners were battered to death...
The six King'ong'o prisoners were battered to death by warders, and there was no escape bid as claimed by the jail authorities, a principal magistrate ruled at the inquest into their deaths
- FEBRUARY 7, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Six men were sentenced to death by a Kenyan court for...
Six men were sentenced to death by a Kenyan court for violent robbery
- JANUARY 31, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
A woman convicted of murdering her two-year-old son...
A woman convicted of murdering her two-year-old son was spared the death sentence because of doubts about her age, and having a one-year-old child, conceived whilst in custody
- JANUARY 1, 2002KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Murder, treason and armed robbery are capital crimes
Murder, treason and armed robbery are capital crimes
- NOVEMBER 22, 2001KenyaDEATH PENALTY
A Kenyan musician who murdered his German lover in...
A Kenyan musician who murdered his German lover in Kwale District in the country's Coastal Province in 1997 was sentenced to death by a Mombasa High Court
- NOVEMBER 7, 2001KenyaDEATH PENALTY
A man who violently robbed a trader of a bottle of...
A man who violently robbed a trader of a bottle of Pilsner beer worth Sh55 was sentenced to hang
- OCTOBER 31, 2001KenyaDEATH PENALTY
A 25-year-old Kenyan was condemned to hang for violent...
A 25-year-old Kenyan was condemned to hang for violent robbery
- OCTOBER 30, 2001KenyaDEATH PENALTY
The only inmate who survived the King'ong'o Prison...
The only inmate who survived the King'ong'o Prison tragedy where six others were allegedly bludgeoned to death in September 2000, is now a free man
- JULY 29, 2001KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki hit out at...
Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki hit out at the police for their brutality against the public
- JULY 27, 2001KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Kenyan police denied allegations that officers shot...
Kenyan police denied allegations that officers shot dead seven suspected armed robbers in cold blood in one of Nairobi's bloodiest incidents in months
- JULY 27, 2001KenyaDEATH PENALTY
The human rights organisation Amnesty International...
The human rights organisation Amnesty International called for a government inquiry into the alleged police execution of seven people "in cold blood" in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on July 25
- JULY 26, 2001KenyaDEATH PENALTY
An editorial in the Daily Nation condemned extra-judicial...
An editorial in the Daily Nation condemned extra-judicial killings by police
- JULY 25, 2001KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Police ordered seven men to get down from a bus - and...
Police ordered seven men to get down from a bus - and then executed them in cold blood and in full public view