Libya
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 · Premeditated murder, treason and offenses against the...
- News items in the archive
- 221
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Libya 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 221 news items on Libya, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- OCTOBER 8, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council...
The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decided that the PACE Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee would draw up a special report on the case of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya on AIDS infection charg
- OCTOBER 8, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council...
The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decided that the PACE Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee would draw up a special report on the case of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya on AIDS infection charg
- OCTOBER 4, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The Council of Europe's newly elected Secretary General...
The Council of Europe's newly elected Secretary General Terry Davis described as "outrageous" the case of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya on charges of deliberate HIV infection of several hundred Libyan children
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
European Union Commission President Romano Prodi held...
European Union Commission President Romano Prodi held with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi during a private visit to the north African nation, the EU said
- JULY 27, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Bulgaria rejected a Libyan proposal for a deal to save...
Bulgaria rejected a Libyan proposal for a deal to save five Bulgarian nurses convicted of deliberately infecting children with AIDS from a firing squad and insisted that they were innocent
- JULY 5, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The parliamentary wing of the Organisation for Security...
The parliamentary wing of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a pan-European security body, urged Libya not to execute six foreign medical workers convicted of infecting children with AIDS
- JUNE 21, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe...
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) would take a many-sided approach to Libya to support the Bulgarian medical workers unfairly convicted in that country, PACE President Peter Schieder said referring to the case of five Bulgarian nu
- JUNE 15, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The motives for the death sentences of the five Bulgarian...
The motives for the death sentences of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, charged with intentionally infecting over 400 Libyan children with HIV, were given to the lawyers eight days after the legal deadline expired
- JUNE 15, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The motives for the death sentences of the five Bulgarian...
The motives for the death sentences of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, charged with intentionally infecting over 400 Libyan children with HIV, were given to the lawyers eight days after the legal deadline expired
- JUNE 6, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The motives for the death sentences passed on five...
The motives for the death sentences passed on five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor on charges of infecting over 400 Libyan children with AIDS were not presented, as required by Libyan law
- JUNE 6, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The motives for the death sentences passed on five...
The motives for the death sentences passed on five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor on charges of infecting over 400 Libyan children with AIDS were not presented, as required by Libyan law
- JUNE 5, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he planned to...
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he planned to contact the Libyan government "at a high level" about the death sentences for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the AIDS virus
- MAY 31, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Canada supported Bulgaria in connection with the trial...
Canada supported Bulgaria in connection with the trial against the Bulgarian medics in Libya, Paul Dubois, Assistant Deputy Minister at the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said after a meeting with Bulgarian Deputy Foreign Minister Gergana Gruncharo
- MAY 28, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Serbia and Montenegro's President Svetozar Marovic...
Serbia and Montenegro's President Svetozar Marovic promised his Bulgarian counterpart Georgy Parvanov that his country would mediate on behalf of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya in a case involving AIDS-contaminated blood
- MAY 28, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
"China will use its influence to encourage a fair solution...
"China will use its influence to encourage a fair solution to the issue of the Bulgarian nurses sentenced in Libya," Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), told Bulgarian National Assembly Chairman Ogny
- MAY 27, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said he had learnt...
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said he had learnt with regret that the results on the case of the Bulgarian medics in Libya were not good and expressed hope that their death sentences would not be carried out
- MAY 26, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that Turkey would raise the issue of...
It was reported that Turkey would raise the issue of the Bulgarian nurses, sentenced to death in Libya, at the 31st Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, due to open in Istanbul on June 14
- MAY 25, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Bulgarian Assembly chairman Ognyan Gerdzhikov, who...
Bulgarian Assembly chairman Ognyan Gerdzhikov, who was leading a delegation to Rome met with Senate President of Marcello Pera, aksed Italy for assistance regarding the Bulgarian medical professionals, sentenced to death by the Benghazi Criminal Court on
- MAY 24, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi conferred...
Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi conferred with Stefano Manservisi, head of cabinet of European Commission President Romano Prodi, and briefed him on the results of his visit to Libya on 18-19 May, on his meetings in Tunis during the Arab League s
- MAY 22, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Bulgarian officials and politicians continued soliciting...
Bulgarian officials and politicians continued soliciting international support for five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death by a Libyan court on charges of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the AIDS virus
- MAY 20, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic met the Libyan ambassador...
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic met the Libyan ambassador to Croatia to discuss how Croatia could help solving the problem of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya after they were convicted of deliberately infecti
- MAY 20, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic met the Libyan ambassador...
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic met the Libyan ambassador to Croatia to discuss how Croatia could help solving the problem of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya after they were convicted of deliberately infecti
- MAY 19, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Bulgaria's Foreign Minister said he hoped for a quick...
Bulgaria's Foreign Minister said he hoped for a quick solution to a dispute with Tripoli over death sentences imposed on five Bulgarian nurses convicted of infecting Libyan children with the HIV virus
- MAY 18, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The EU chief executive reiterated a call to Libya to...
The EU chief executive reiterated a call to Libya to release five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor it has sentenced to death for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with the virus that causes AIDS
- MAY 6, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
A Libyan court sentenced 5 Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian...
A Libyan court sentenced 5 Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian doctor to death by firing squad for deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the deadly HIV virus, court officials said
- MAY 6, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The EU condemned death sentences handed in Libya to...
The EU condemned death sentences handed in Libya to five Bulgarian health workers and a Palestinian doctor for spreading AIDS, saying they cast a "shadow" over improving ties with Tripoli
- APRIL 27, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Despite recent progress, Libya continued to violate...
Despite recent progress, Libya continued to violate basic human rights and a "climate of fear" persisted in the country, Amnesty International said in a report, entitled "Libya: Time to make human rights a reality," issued in Brussels as Libyan leader Moa
- APRIL 11, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
A large number of offences, including political offences and economic “crimes” are punishable by death.
A large number of offences, including political offences and economic “crimes” are punishable by death.
- FEBRUARY 16, 2004LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Prosecutors in Libya called for the death sentence...
Prosecutors in Libya called for the death sentence for seven health workers, six Bulgarian and one Palestinian, accused of spreading AIDS in a children's hospital in the northern Libyan town of Benghazi, Bulgarian radio reported
- AUGUST 12, 2003LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International voiced concern at a reported...
Amnesty International voiced concern at a reported Libyan plan to deport seven Eritrean army deserters to their country where they could face torture and execution without trial