Kuwait
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 5
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 17
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · The death penalty is provided for by laws based on...
- News items in the archive
- 257
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Kuwait is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 5 executions in the country, against 17 the year before. The archive holds 257 news items on Kuwait, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- APRIL 13, 2004KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Kuwait's court of cassation, the emirate's highest...
Kuwait's court of cassation, the emirate's highest court, upheld a death sentence for two Saudi brothers and a Kuwaiti for the kidnapping, rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in May 2002
- APRIL 12, 2004KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by laws based on the Sharia. Capital crimes include
The death penalty is provided for by laws based on the Sharia. Capital crimes include
- MARCH 16, 2004KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Kuwait will demand that Saddam Hussein be sentenced...
Kuwait will demand that Saddam Hussein be sentenced to death for crimes against the oil-rich Gulf Arab state, public prosecutor Hamed al-Othman said
- JANUARY 27, 2004KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Two Pakistani nationals were executed in Kuwait, in...
Two Pakistani nationals were executed in Kuwait, in the second hanging in a week
- JANUARY 20, 2004KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Kuwaiti authorities publicly displayed the corpse of...
Kuwaiti authorities publicly displayed the corpse of Fazel Shirin Mohammad Sherif, 35, a Pakistani heroin trafficker who was hanged in front of the interior ministry in Kuwait City in the fourth execution of a drug dealer since the introduction in 1995 of
- DECEMBER 12, 2003KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
A Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced 'Akhtar', a Pakistani...
A Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced 'Akhtar', a Pakistani national, to death on charges of smuggling heroin into the country
- OCTOBER 28, 2003KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
The Kuwaiti Court of Appeals court commuted to life...
The Kuwaiti Court of Appeals court commuted to life in prison the death sentence against Sami al-Mutairi, a 25 year old Kuwaiti who killed an American civilian and wounded another in a highway ambush in January 2003
- JUNE 29, 2003KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
A court in Kuwait sentenced Farraj Mansour, a 32 year...
A court in Kuwait sentenced Farraj Mansour, a 32 year old Kuwaiti man, to death for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old Pakistani girl
- JUNE 4, 2003KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
A criminal court in Kuwait sentenced to death Sami...
A criminal court in Kuwait sentenced to death Sami al-Mutairi, a 25 year old Kuwaiti, for the murder of an American civilian near a US army base in the emirate
- JANUARY 1, 2003KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
The Khaleej Times reported that a Dubai court sentenced...
The Khaleej Times reported that a Dubai court sentenced to death a Kuwaiti man for possession and dealing of drugs
- JANUARY 1, 2003KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by laws based on...
The death penalty is provided for by laws based on the Shari'a
- NOVEMBER 2, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
The Court of Appeals, headed by Judge Ahmed Al-Ajeel,...
The Court of Appeals, headed by Judge Ahmed Al-Ajeel, upheld the Criminal Court's ruling of the death penalty against three of the defendants accused of killing the child, Amna, and sentenced the fourth female defendant for life imprisonment
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
The first appeal hearing of the sensational murder...
The first appeal hearing of the sensational murder case of six-year old Amna Al-Khaldi will begin shortly, according to judicial sources
- JULY 25, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
A Kuwaiti court sentenced to death two Saudi brothers...
A Kuwaiti court sentenced to death two Saudi brothers and a Kuwaiti on charges of kidnapping and murdering a five-year-old girl in May
- JUNE 30, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Three Bangladeshis were hanged at Nayif Palace after...
Three Bangladeshis were hanged at Nayif Palace after being convicted of killing a Sri Lankan woman
- JUNE 8, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Kuwait's court of appeals upheld the death sentence...
Kuwait's court of appeals upheld the death sentence on a police officer found guilty of shooting dead a female editor in a crowded street
- APRIL 10, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Fahd Abdullah Ali was hanged for murder
Fahd Abdullah Ali was hanged for murder
- MARCH 11, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
An appeal court commuted the death sentence of a Kuwaiti...
An appeal court commuted the death sentence of a Kuwaiti policeman who murdered a magazine editor for what he considered to be defamation of his tribe
- FEBRUARY 3, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
A Kuwaiti court sentenced to death a police officer...
A Kuwaiti court sentenced to death a police officer for gunning down a female editor in a crowded street in the Muslim conservative state
- JANUARY 1, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Sexual molesters in Kuwait are charged with capital...
Sexual molesters in Kuwait are charged with capital punishment
- JANUARY 1, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Death sentences, which are normally carried out by...
Death sentences, which are normally carried out by hanging, can be appealed twice and must receive the final approval of Sheikh JaberAl-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Emir
- JANUARY 1, 2002KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by laws based on...
The death penalty is provided for by laws based on the Shari'a
- JULY 10, 2001KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
A legislative official said that two Kuwaiti politicians...
A legislative official said that two Kuwaiti politicians presented a controversial draft bill to parliament to amend the Gulf Arab state's penal code to meet Islamic sharia law
- JUNE 17, 2001KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Kuwait hanged 24 year old Qadeer Kaleeja, an Indian...
Kuwait hanged 24 year old Qadeer Kaleeja, an Indian maid, for strangling her elderly employer and stealing her jewelry
- APRIL 5, 2001KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Sheikh Humoud bin Aqla Al Shuabi, a prominent religious...
Sheikh Humoud bin Aqla Al Shuabi, a prominent religious figure in Al Qaseem, Saudi Arabia, has issued a fatwa, calling for famous Kuwaiti artist, Abdullah Al Rwaishid, to be sentenced to death for using a chapter of the Holy Quran in a song
- MARCH 22, 2001KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
The wife of Kuwait's Crown Prince and Prime Minister...
The wife of Kuwait's Crown Prince and Prime Minister has demanded the death sentence for Khaled Diab al-Azmi a police officer who allegedly confessed to killing Hedayah Sultan al-Salem a Kuwaiti female editor and veteran women's rights campaigner on March
- MARCH 13, 2001KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Kuwait's Cassation Court handed a sentence of life...
Kuwait's Cassation Court handed a sentence of life in prison to Alaa Hussein, a former Kuwaiti military reservist, found guilty of treason for heading a puppet government under Iraq's occupation
- JANUARY 16, 2001KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
A Sri Lankan expatriate, Vina Sishabi, was hanged at...
A Sri Lankan expatriate, Vina Sishabi, was hanged at the central prison of Kuwait city
- JANUARY 1, 2001KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Sexual molesters in Kuwait are charged with capital...
Sexual molesters in Kuwait are charged with capital punishment
- JANUARY 1, 2001KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Death sentences, which are normally carried out by...
Death sentences, which are normally carried out by hanging, can be appealed twice and must receive the final approval of Sheikh JaberAl-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Emir