Nigeria
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 · The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Code...
- News items in the archive
- 1,104
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Nigeria 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 1,104 news items on Nigeria, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- AUGUST 27, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian Islamic court said it would wait another...
A Nigerian Islamic court said it would wait another four weeks to pass judgement in the case of Amina Lawal, a single mother sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery
- AUGUST 19, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian Islamic appeal court quashed the conviction...
A Nigerian Islamic appeal court quashed the conviction of Had Sarimu Mohammed, a 55-year-old peasant farmer who had been sentenced to be stoned to death for the rape of a nine-year-old girl
- AUGUST 13, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Mustapha Haruna Jokolo,...
The Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Mustapha Haruna Jokolo, said that any Muslim supporting the removal of capital punishment from the Nigerian constitution should regard himself as an infidel
- AUGUST 13, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The chairman of the Katsina State chapter of Izala,...
The chairman of the Katsina State chapter of Izala, Sheik Yakubu Musa, declared that Muslims would resist any attempt to abrogate capital punishment in Nigeria, saying that doing so will be tantamount to tampering with Sharia law, the Islamic legal system
- AUGUST 13, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives Aminu...
Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives Aminu Bello Masari said that no matter related to the abrogation of capital punishment in the country had ever been tabled before the House
- AUGUST 11, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Kano State governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau condemned...
Kano State governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau condemned in strong terms the Federal Government's proposal to abolish capital punishment in Nigeria
- AUGUST 10, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
In an interview with Sunday Vanguard Abdul Oroh, journalist,...
In an interview with Sunday Vanguard Abdul Oroh, journalist, Nigerian parliamentarian and Hands Off Cain board member, stated: "I want to see a bill that will introduce a moratorium on death penalty in Nigeria, I don't believe in capital punishment
- AUGUST 4, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu...
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, gave assurances that the National Assembly would support the abrogation of capital punishment from the nation's laws
- JULY 29, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Marco Cappato, Lista Bonino MEP, together with Italian...
Marco Cappato, Lista Bonino MEP, together with Italian Ambassador Marcello Ricoveri and vice President of the Commission of Human Rights of the Nigerian Chamber of Deputies Hon
- JULY 28, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Marco Cappato, Lista Bonino MEP, and Nigerian parliamentary...
Marco Cappato, Lista Bonino MEP, and Nigerian parliamentary Abdul Oroh, both Hands Off Cain board members, together with Marcello Ricoveri, Italian ambassador to Nigeria, met with Nigerian Foreign Minister Saisu Balarabe Samaila, on the purpose to obtain
- JULY 22, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Human Rights Watch published a damning 32-page report...
Human Rights Watch published a damning 32-page report into the November 2002 violence, in the northern city of Kaduna, alleging that police and soldiers had shot indiscriminately during a riot which left 220 dead
- JULY 15, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amina Lawal, the Nigerian woman sentenced to death...
Amina Lawal, the Nigerian woman sentenced to death last year for adultery by a Sharia court in the state of Katsina, will not be stoned, Zamfara state Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, Amina Yusuf Garba, told the Italian daily Avvenire
- JUNE 4, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The appeal hearing of two former lovers sentenced to...
The appeal hearing of two former lovers sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic court in Nigeria was adjourned till June 2003
- JUNE 3, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amina Lawal had her appeal adjourned until 27 August...
Amina Lawal had her appeal adjourned until 27 August as she sought to overturn a conviction for adultery
- JUNE 3, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
AMINA LAWAL’S STONING APPEAL ADJOURNED
June 3, 2003: Nigerian woman Amina Lawal has had her appeal adjourned until 27 August as she seeks to overturn a conviction for adultery. She had been convicted of adultery in March last year by a court in the northern state of Katsina.
- MAY 3, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
In an editorial entitled 'Impunity and Human Rights'...
In an editorial entitled 'Impunity and Human Rights' Chino Obiagwu stated "in 2002, we recorded ? over 150 cases of summary or extra judicial executions, that is, killings by police and other security agents
- APRIL 22, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Sergio D'Elia, Secretary of Hands Off Cain, declared:...
Sergio D'Elia, Secretary of Hands Off Cain, declared: "Obasanjo's re-election is today the best guarantee in Nigeria for the life of Amina Lawal and others who risk being sentenced to death by the political use of Sharia law as applied by the twelve north
- APRIL 22, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Outgoing President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo has...
Outgoing President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo has been re-elected in the first round of the presidential elections
- APRIL 22, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: PRESIDENT OBASANJO REELECTED
April 22, 2003: Outgoing President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo has been re-elected in the first round of the presidential elections. The fact is confirmed by the election results published by the national independent electoral commission of Abuja.
- APRIL 10, 2003NigeriaDEATH 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
- MARCH 25, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian Islamic court postponed the start of Amina...
A Nigerian Islamic court postponed the start of Amina Lawal's appeal against being stoned to death after the chief trial judge failed to turn up
- MARCH 18, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Ten thousand Muslim fundamentalists marched in protest...
Ten thousand Muslim fundamentalists marched in protest through the northern Nigerian city of Kano to urge authorities to apply strict Islamic law, including stonings and other punishments
- MARCH 13, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The EP adopted a resolution on the case of Amina Lawal,...
The EP adopted a resolution on the case of Amina Lawal, sentenced to death by stoning in Nigeria for committing adultery, pushing the Nigerian government to suspend all executions and to put an end to the use of the death penalty
- MARCH 6, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Sani Yerima, started...
The Governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Sani Yerima, started his election campaign for a second term in Kaura Namoda, headquarters of Kaura Namoda Local Council, vowing to carry out the death penalty passed on anyone by a sharia court in the state
- FEBRUARY 28, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Dana Rosemary Scallon, MEP for Connacht and Ulster,...
Dana Rosemary Scallon, MEP for Connacht and Ulster, handed in a letter to Dublin's Nigerian Ambassador appealing for help in the case of Mrs Amina Lawal Kurami, sentenced to death by stoning for having a child out of wedlock
- FEBRUARY 3, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The acting chief of Indonesia's National Drugs Agency,...
The acting chief of Indonesia's National Drugs Agency, Togar Sianipar, said that 20 foreign and local drug traffickers had been sentenced to death in recent years but none has been executed
- JANUARY 28, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Dr Olubunmi Okogie, commended...
Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Dr Olubunmi Okogie, commended the judiciary for concluding the infamous Otokoto murder case
- JANUARY 27, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian Sharia court postponed the appeal of a man...
A Nigerian Sharia court postponed the appeal of a man who has been sentenced to death by stoning until after the season for Muslim pilgrimages to Mecca, the Hajj, which runs from 10-13 February
- JANUARY 24, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain noted that the date for the appeal of...
Hands Off Cain noted that the date for the appeal of Amina Lawal's case has been set for March 25
- JANUARY 23, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian High Court at Owerri condemned to death...
A Nigerian High Court at Owerri condemned to death by hanging seven men standing trial before it in connection with the beheading of an 11 year-old boy, Ikechukwu Okonkwo, at the Otokoto Hotel near Owerri in 1996