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
- JULY 15, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The death sentence passed on Uchenna Uwachukwu for...
The death sentence passed on Uchenna Uwachukwu for killing his business partner, Benjamin Iheama, by the high court and court of appeal was confirmed by the Supreme Court
- JULY 8, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A 20-year-old man, Aliyu Ibrahim, from Adamawa State,...
A 20-year-old man, Aliyu Ibrahim, from Adamawa State, who claimed to have blasphemed against the Prophet Muhammad has taken himself to the Upper Sharia Court Two, Sokoto, asking for the death penalty, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported
- JULY 8, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
An Islamic court in northern Nigeria began hearing...
An Islamic court in northern Nigeria began hearing an appeal from a woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning under controversial Sharia, or Islamic, law
- JULY 5, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Spanish section of Amnesty International delivered...
The Spanish section of Amnesty International delivered an additional 310,000 signatures to the Nigerian Embassy in Madrid requesting the acquittal of Amina Nawal, a woman sentenced to death by stoning in the African nation
- JULY 4, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO) called on Nigeria's...
The Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO) called on Nigeria's Federal Government to abolish the death penalty and fashion a legislation that would protect and safeguard lives in accordance with acceptable international norms
- JULY 1, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A 25-year-old married man, Gawata Lababa Turun, accused...
A 25-year-old married man, Gawata Lababa Turun, accused of impregnating his sister-in-law Nasifatu Umaru, 16, escaped being sentenced to death by stoning because of the failure by the prosecution to produce four witnesses against him
- JUNE 27, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Three Nigerians sentenced to death in Malaysia for...
Three Nigerians sentenced to death in Malaysia for dadah trafficking in 1995 are seeking to revise the decision of the Federal Court affirming their penalty
- JUNE 24, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A high court in Jigawa State has sentenced a 25-year-old...
A high court in Jigawa State has sentenced a 25-year-old man to death for raping a 76-year-old woman to death, while a Sharia court in Bauchi has ordered the amputation of the right hand of a man for stealing domestic items estimated at N19,800
- JUNE 3, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria's Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) appealed...
Nigeria's Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) appealed to Abia State Governor Orji Kalu to exercise his prerogative of mercy for four Nigerians whose death sentence was recently affirmed by the Supreme Court
- JUNE 3, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning for...
A Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery will be free to look after her child until January 2004, whatever the outcome of her appeal, an Islamic court ruled
- MAY 21, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's President, said he does...
Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's President, said he does not see the adoption of Sharia law by a dozen states in Nigeria as a threat, amid international pressure on him to amend laws calling for execution by stoning for Islamic crimes such as adultery
- MAY 21, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian Supreme court held that "In a murder charge,...
The Nigerian Supreme court held that "In a murder charge, for the prosecution to discharge its burden of proving the case beyond reasonable doubt, it must prove the death of the deceased, the act or omission of the accused which caused the death, and that
- MAY 20, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Two human rights groups called on the Nigerian authorities...
Two human rights groups called on the Nigerian authorities to disband government-backed vigilante groups, including one accused of a reign of terror in the southeast of the country
- MAY 10, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Sharia court in northern Nigeria sentenced a 50-year...
A Sharia court in northern Nigeria sentenced a 50-year old man to be stoned to death after he admitted raping a nine-year old girl
- MAY 8, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Two Nigerians who converted to Christianity nearly...
Two Nigerians who converted to Christianity nearly met their maker sooner than they anticipated
- APRIL 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigeria voted against the resolution 2002/77 on the...
Nigeria voted against the resolution 2002/77 on the death penalty at the 58th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian Muslim prosecutors are seeking the death penalty...
Nigerian Muslim prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for two men accused of converting from Islam to Christianity
- APRIL 25, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian Islamic prosecutors seek death penalty for Christian converts
April 25, 2002: Nigerian Muslim prosecutors in the northern Zamfara state are seeking the death penalty for two men accused of converting from Islam to Christianity.
- APRIL 24, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The General Secretariat for Equality asked that Greece...
The General Secretariat for Equality asked that Greece officially intervene in the case of a Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning on charges of adultery by a Muslim sharia court in Nigeria
- APRIL 17, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The European Parliament urged the Nigerian Federal...
The European Parliament urged the Nigerian Federal Government to ensure that law courts act in accordance with international law on human rights and the declaration of rights included in Nigeria's Constitution
- APRIL 13, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Radical Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky,...
Radical Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, accused governors of states in the North that have adopted the Islamic legal code, Sharia, of using it selfishly
- APRIL 10, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International called on the governor of Anambra...
Amnesty International called on the governor of Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria, to end human rights abuses committed by its "crime busting" unit, the so-called Bakassi Boys
- APRIL 4, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Amina Lawal, a 30-year-old Nigerian woman condemned...
Amina Lawal, a 30-year-old Nigerian woman condemned to die by stoning for adultery, has filed an appeal against her sentence
- MARCH 30, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Nigerian Army said that it has no place for trade...
The Nigerian Army said that it has no place for trade unionism and that it is impossible for its soldiers to go on strike since such an action would be viewed as a mutiny, which carries the death penalty
- MARCH 29, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Police in Nigeria's Enugu state arrested the Divisional...
Police in Nigeria's Enugu state arrested the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) for Nsukka and seven of his men over the alleged murder of Nnaemeka Ugwoke and Izuchukwu Ayogu, both former students of Nsukka high school
- MARCH 29, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo lauded the verdict...
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo lauded the verdict of the Sharia Appeal Court in Sokoto which overturned the death sentence passed on Safiya Tungar-Tudu by a lower sharia court in October 2001for committing adultery
- MARCH 28, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The European Union (EU) welcomed the acquittal of Safiya...
The European Union (EU) welcomed the acquittal of Safiya Hussaini by the Sokoto Sharia Court of Appeal
- MARCH 28, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The European Union (EU) welcomed the acquittal of Safiya...
The European Union (EU) welcomed the acquittal of Safiya Hussaini by the Sokoto Sharia Court of Appeal
- MARCH 26, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
In Nigeria, the acquittal of Safiya Hussaini, the woman...
In Nigeria, the acquittal of Safiya Hussaini, the woman who had been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, was welcomed with a tremendous joy except among the supporters of strict enforcement of shari'ah, the Islamic law
- MARCH 26, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
International Human Rights Watch urged Nigerian government...
International Human Rights Watch urged Nigerian government authorities to ensure that courts refrain from sentencing people to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments that are prohibited by international law