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
- 226
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 226 news items on Libya, from 1999 to today.
In Libya the death penalty applies to a wide list of offences and is administered within a fragmented institutional framework, with authorities and courts that do not recognise one another. The documented executions include both judicial sentences and killings carried out by armed groups.
The archive gathers what can be verified, and always names the source.
Latest news
- 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
- APRIL 24, 2003LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Libya voted against the resolution on the death penalty...
Libya voted against the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva
- JANUARY 21, 2003LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Libya agreed to commute the death sentences imposed...
Libya agreed to commute the death sentences imposed on a Nigerian and three Ghanaians convicted of murdering a Libyan, Nigerian officials said
- JANUARY 20, 2003LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Libya secured the chairmanship of the UN Human Rights...
Libya secured the chairmanship of the UN Human Rights Commission amidst adverse reactions calling into disrepute the country's human rights record
- JANUARY 20, 2003LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Libya secured the chairmanship of the UN Human Rights...
Libya secured the chairmanship of the UN Human Rights Commission amidst adverse reactions calling into disrepute the country's human rights record
- JANUARY 15, 2003LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria urged Libya to commute the death sentences...
Nigeria urged Libya to commute the death sentences of a Nigerian and three Ghanaians convicted of a 1995 murder, a foreign ministry statement said
- JANUARY 1, 2003LibyaDEATH PENALTY
A large number of offenses, including political offenses...
A large number of offenses, including political offenses and "economic crimes," are punishable by death
- OCTOBER 2, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The World Organisation Against Torture reported that...
The World Organisation Against Torture reported that four protesters defending a grave that was about to be defaced by the Revolutionary Committee were arrested and put through undue torture, including extrajudicial execution
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
South Africa supported the nomination of Libya to chair...
South Africa supported the nomination of Libya to chair the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma told Parliament
- AUGUST 19, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Human Rights Watch reiterated its call on the African...
Human Rights Watch reiterated its call on the African Union to abandon plans to nominate Libya as next chair for the Commission
- AUGUST 9, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The verdict in the trial of 15 people charged with...
The verdict in the trial of 15 people charged with the wilful contamination of 393 Libyan children with AIDS was again postponed to an unspecified date, according to legal sources in Tripoli
- JUNE 2, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
A Libyan court is to define new charges against six...
A Libyan court is to define new charges against six Bulgarian medical staff and a Palestinian accused of provoking an AIDS epidemic through tainted blood products, the Bulgarian foreign ministry said
- APRIL 25, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Libya voted against the resolution 2002/77 on the death...
Libya voted against the resolution 2002/77 on the death penalty at the 58th UN Commission on Human Rights
- MARCH 17, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
British relatives of the Lockerbie victims said that...
British relatives of the Lockerbie victims said that they believed judges jailed the wrong man
- FEBRUARY 25, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation...
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) called for public intervention in the trial of five Bulgarian nurses and one doctor, one Palestinian and 9 Libyans, in Libya
- FEBRUARY 19, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International expressed concern at the death...
Amnesty International expressed concern at the death sentences announced on Saturday 16 February 2002 against two possible prisoners of conscience, Abdullah Ahmed Izzedin and Salem Abu Hanak
- FEBRUARY 17, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
A Libyan People's Court ordered a new probe in the...
A Libyan People's Court ordered a new probe in the trial of six Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of children with HIV, a Bulgarian official said
- FEBRUARY 12, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi and Libyan...
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi and Libyan Foreign Minister Abd al-Rahman Muhammed Shalqam discussed the case of the six Bulgarian medics facing the death penalty in Libya on charges of deliberately infecting 393 Libyan children with the HIV virus
- JANUARY 1, 2002LibyaDEATH PENALTY
A large number of offenses, including political offenses...
A large number of offenses, including political offenses and "economic crimes," are punishable by death
- DECEMBER 22, 2001LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Tripoli People's Court postponed its verdict on six...
Tripoli People's Court postponed its verdict on six Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian doctor charged with deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the HIV virus to February 17, 2002 to complete the study of the case
- NOVEMBER 14, 2001LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Libyan leader Col Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi called on ousted...
Libyan leader Col Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi called on ousted Afghan President Borhanoddin Rabbani to rein in Northern Alliance troops in Kabul, the Libyan news agency Jana reported
- NOVEMBER 8, 2001LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Libya, a former state sponsor of terrorism, is backing...
Libya, a former state sponsor of terrorism, is backing the US-led war on terror and trying to free eight Western aid workers on trial for their lives in Afghanistan
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2001LibyaDEATH PENALTY
A Libyan court postponed until December 22 its ruling...
A Libyan court postponed until December 22 its ruling in a trial of Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian doctor charged with deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, officials said
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2001LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Libya hasn't executed a death penalty in the last seven...
Libya hasn't executed a death penalty in the last seven years and this is indicative of a policy that is encouraging for the Bulgarian medics tried in Tripoli, National Assembly Chairman Ognyan Gerdzhikov, said in a meeting with the families of the medics
- AUGUST 2, 2001LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Bulgaria's justice minister said he feared that six...
Bulgaria's justice minister said he feared that six Bulgarian medics on trial in Libya for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with HIV could be sentenced to death if found guilty
- JULY 2, 2001LibyaDEATH PENALTY
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the Nigerian...
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the Nigerian government was using all diplomatic channels to plead for clemency for four Nigerians sentenced to death in Libya