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
- 1,117
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 1,117 news items on Nigeria, from 1999 to today.
In Nigeria the death penalty is provided for by the penal code and, in the northern states applying sharia law, also for offences such as apostasy and adultery. The methods provided for are hanging and shooting.
Sentences are numerous and death row is crowded, while actual executions are rare and concentrated in short periods. The archive follows sentences, executions and commutations.
Latest news
- 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
- JANUARY 23, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian Islamic court ruled that Amina Lawal, the...
A Nigerian Islamic court ruled that Amina Lawal, the Nigerian woman sentenced to be stoned to death for bearing a child out of wedlock, will begin her latest appeal on March 25
- JANUARY 23, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Grand Khadi Aminu Ibrahim Katsina, the chief judge...
Grand Khadi Aminu Ibrahim Katsina, the chief judge presiding over the case of Amina Lawal, a woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, said of fornication that ''The best deterrent is the death sentence, for people to see what happens to a fornica
- JANUARY 21, 2003NigeriaDEATH 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 15, 2003NigeriaDEATH 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, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Code...
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Code and the legislation on civil disturbances for armed robbery, murder, treason, and offenses against the State
- JANUARY 1, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian Constitution states at Part II, Chapter...
The Nigerian Constitution states at Part II, Chapter IV on Fundamental Rights, Art
- JANUARY 1, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The first Sharia-based execution in Nigeria since its...
The first Sharia-based execution in Nigeria since its introduction took place in 2002
- JANUARY 1, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Armed robbery, murder, treason, and offences against...
Armed robbery, murder, treason, and offences against the State are capital crimes under national law
- JANUARY 1, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria has signed and ratified the statutes of the...
Nigeria has signed and ratified the statutes of the International Criminal Court, the UN permanent judicial body capable of trying individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes
- JANUARY 1, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Death sentences for crimes such as murder are usually...
Death sentences for crimes such as murder are usually carried out by hanging, but firing squads are sometimes used to kill armed robbers and convicted traitors
- DECEMBER 29, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
"Religion and law are supposed to guide society and...
"Religion and law are supposed to guide society and to enable human beings to live in harmony
- DECEMBER 19, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Ahmed Mu'azu, Governor of Bauchi State, advised sharia...
Ahmed Mu'azu, Governor of Bauchi State, advised sharia judges in the state not to rush judgement on women accused of adultery and thus threatened with death by stoning
- NOVEMBER 29, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria's top Muslim authorities ruled that a religious...
Nigeria's top Muslim authorities ruled that a religious edict calling for a journalist to be killed "should be ignored"
- NOVEMBER 28, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain, which sustains the appeal made yesterday...
Hands Off Cain, which sustains the appeal made yesterday by the Christian leaders of Nigeria urging the federal government to take precautionary measures for the Christian community by calling on the Italian government and the European Union to take actio
- NOVEMBER 26, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Islamic authorities in the northern Nigerian state...
Islamic authorities in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara issued a fatwa urging Muslims to kill Isioma Daniel, a writer for the private daily This Day, whose November 16 article about the Miss World pageant sparked deadly riots across the country
- NOVEMBER 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Red Cross said that 200 people died during clashes...
The Red Cross said that 200 people died during clashes in Kaduna
- NOVEMBER 21, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
At least 10 people were killed after thousands of rioting...
At least 10 people were killed after thousands of rioting Muslim youths torched churches, looted shops and destroyed vehicles in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna amid rising Muslim fury over the country's staging of the Miss World pageant
- NOVEMBER 18, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The troubled Miss World contest faced further controversy...
The troubled Miss World contest faced further controversy today after it emerged that 11 children in host nation Nigeria could have their hands amputated for petty theft
- NOVEMBER 13, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
"I really appreciate the support of the contestants who have offered to boycott for me
"I really appreciate the support of the contestants who have offered to boycott for me