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
- 1,116
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 1,116 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
- NOVEMBER 11, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian officials celebrated on Monday as a planeload...
Nigerian officials celebrated on Monday as a planeload of beauty queens arrived for the Miss World pageant, which had been threatened by a mass boycott over the country's Islamic stoning sentences
- NOVEMBER 7, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The so-called Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria...
The so-called Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria condemned the recent call by President Obasanjo for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide
- NOVEMBER 7, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Hurera Akilu-Atta, who is one of Amina Lawal's lawyers...
Hurera Akilu-Atta, who is one of Amina Lawal's lawyers and who works for Baobab, a women's human rights organisation in Nigeria said: "When we heard that participants were boycotting this event, we felt happy and hopeful," she said
- OCTOBER 31, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A 29-year-old Nigerian man who confessed to committing...
A 29-year-old Nigerian man who confessed to committing fornication last June was Thursday given 100 strokes of the cane, under the controversial Islamic Sharia law
- OCTOBER 30, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Only four Miss World contestants will boycott the beauty...
Only four Miss World contestants will boycott the beauty contest due to be held in Nigeria on December 7 in protest against the death sentence given to Amina Lawal
- OCTOBER 30, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Minister of state for foreign affairs, Dubem Onyia,...
The Minister of state for foreign affairs, Dubem Onyia, said: "Nobody will ever be stoned as a result of sharia law
- OCTOBER 29, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria vowed to block Islamic courts from carrying...
Nigeria vowed to block Islamic courts from carrying out any executions by stoning, promising to hold the line against sentences in northern states that have provoked international protests and boycott threats
- OCTOBER 28, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Abia State governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu may grant...
The Abia State governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu may grant the prerogative of mercy to four condemned persons by commuting their convicts to prison terms
- OCTOBER 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amina Lawal, the Nigerian mother condemned to death...
Amina Lawal, the Nigerian mother condemned to death by stoning said she wants Miss World contestants to go to Nigeria for the beauty pageant due to be held in Abuja
- OCTOBER 22, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Former Mexican beauty queen Lupita Jones confirmed...
Former Mexican beauty queen Lupita Jones confirmed her country's participation in the Miss World 2002 beauty pageant, to be held in Nigeria
- 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