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
- OCTOBER 22, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian couple convicted of adultery and sentenced...
A Nigerian couple convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning has been freed on bail by a Sharia court
- OCTOBER 18, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed full...
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed full support for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty in a meeting with a Hands Off Cain delegation in Abuja
- OCTOBER 17, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NTC met with authorities of Katsina, the Nigerian state...
NTC met with authorities of Katsina, the Nigerian state that in the year 2000 introduced a "strict" Islamic code and sentenced Amina to death
- OCTOBER 16, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
HOC also met several Senators who expressed different...
HOC also met several Senators who expressed different stands with regard the death penalty
- OCTOBER 16, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Hands off Cain met at the Italian Embassy in Abuja,...
Hands off Cain met at the Italian Embassy in Abuja, Amina Lawal with her dauther Wasila Amina is thirty years old and has two children from her two marriages
- OCTOBER 16, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
President Obasanjo said that he was committed to fighting...
President Obasanjo said that he was committed to fighting to save lives and would continue the campaign "here in our country and internationally
- OCTOBER 15, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A 54-year-old man sentenced to death by an Islamic...
A 54-year-old man sentenced to death by an Islamic court in northern Nigeria denied his confessional statement, saying he gave it under duress
- OCTOBER 15, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The delegations also met with Archbishop of Abuja J
The delegations also met with Archbishop of Abuja J
- OCTOBER 15, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Hands off Cain met with First Lady Stella Obasanjo,...
Hands off Cain met with First Lady Stella Obasanjo, who said boycotting Miss World represents a damage for a new democracy as Nigeria is
- OCTOBER 14, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Hands off Cain met with Abdul Oroh, the executive...
Hands off Cain met with Abdul Oroh, the executive director of one of the most important Nigerian ONG the Civil Liberties Organization
- OCTOBER 9, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Miss Belgium burst into tears after a public clash...
Miss Belgium burst into tears after a public clash with two rival beauty queens over plans to boycott the Miss World pageant in Nigeria to protest human rights abuses
- OCTOBER 8, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Two lovers, Fatima Usman and Ahmed Ibrahim, convicted...
Two lovers, Fatima Usman and Ahmed Ibrahim, convicted to death for adultery in a Niger State Sharia court are to remain in jail following the adjournment of their bail hearing to October 22
- OCTOBER 4, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The 2002 Miss World pageant in the Nigerian capital...
The 2002 Miss World pageant in the Nigerian capital Abuja was postponed to December 7 to avoid a clash with Ramadam, the Muslim period of fasting
- OCTOBER 4, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Costa Rican government urged its representative...
The Costa Rican government urged its representative stay away from the Miss World competition in Nigeria to protest a ruling by an Islamic court in the African nation sentencing Amina Lawal to death by stoning
- OCTOBER 4, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The 2002 Miss World pageant in the Nigerian capital...
The 2002 Miss World pageant in the Nigerian capital Abuja was postponed to December 7 to avoid a clash with Ramadam, the Muslim period of fasting
- OCTOBER 3, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Spain decided to withdraw participation in the Miss...
Spain decided to withdraw participation in the Miss World pageant due to be held in Nigeria to show solidarity with Amina Lawal, a woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery
- OCTOBER 3, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Miss Denmark joined a boycott of the Miss World pageant...
Miss Denmark joined a boycott of the Miss World pageant to protest against a death sentence imposed on a Nigerian Muslim woman accused of having sex outside marriage
- OCTOBER 2, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria's Minister for Women's Affairs said her government...
Nigeria's Minister for Women's Affairs said her government was not involved in the Miss World pageant that Spain and other countries decided to boycott because a Islamic court in her country has sentenced a woman to be stoned to death
- OCTOBER 2, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria's Minister of Women's Affairs, Hajiha Aisha,...
Nigeria's Minister of Women's Affairs, Hajiha Aisha, said that the Miss World pageant scheduled to be held in Nigeria in December was a private event run by a private company and does not concern the government
- OCTOBER 2, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Lebanese former Finance Minister Georges Corm, said...
Lebanese former Finance Minister Georges Corm, said that the death sentence by stoning passed on Amina Lawal by a Nigerian Sharia Court did not serve the cause of Islam
- OCTOBER 1, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
New Zealand lawmakers of all parties wrote to Nigeria's...
New Zealand lawmakers of all parties wrote to Nigeria's president urging him to overturn the sentence of death by stoning imposed on a woman for having a child out of wedlock
- OCTOBER 1, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo gave assurances...
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo gave assurances that the country's higher appeal courts would quash the death-by-stoning sentences for adultery passed by Islamic courts
- SEPTEMBER 30, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The African National Congress (ANC) called on South...
The African National Congress (ANC) called on South African president Thabo Mbeki to urge his Nigerian counterpart to prevent the execution of Amina Lawal, who has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Daily Telegraph ran an article on Daniella Laun,...
The Daily Telegraph ran an article on Daniella Laun, Miss England World 2002, and her intentions not to boycott the Miss World contest in Nigeria so as to raise her voice at the event in favour of Amina Lawal, a Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stonin
- SEPTEMBER 27, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) appealed to...
The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) appealed to the Nigerian government to set aside the ruling of the Sharia Court that sentenced Amina Lawal to death by stoning for having had a baby outside wedlock
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The plight of a mother sentenced to death by stoning...
The plight of a mother sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in Nigeria drew bipartisan condemnation from female MPs in the New South Wales parliament
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Prosecutors urged an Islamic court in northwestern...
Prosecutors urged an Islamic court in northwestern Nigeria to throw out an appeal by a man sentenced to death by stoning for raping a young girl because his insanity claim was untenable
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Former US President Bill Clinton expressed hope that...
Former US President Bill Clinton expressed hope that the Nigerian legal system would find a way of pardoning Amina Lawal
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
As indications are rife that Western creditor-nations...
As indications are rife that Western creditor-nations might withdraw their support for Nigeria's debt relief effort over the confirmation of the death sentence on Amina Lawal by a Katsina State Sharia Court of Appeal for adultery, the President of the Afr
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he had expressed...
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he had expressed to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo his concern over the case of a mother sentenced to death by stoning for adultery