Papua New Guinea
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Papua New Guinea was a cosponsor of the amendments...
- News items in the archive
- 91
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Papua New Guinea is classified as Abolitionist 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 91 news items on Papua New Guinea, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- MARCH 7, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Social Welfare and Development Minister Lady Carol...
Social Welfare and Development Minister Lady Carol Kidu expressed anger at the "summary executions and brutality" on the streets in Port Moresby caused by police mobile squad units
- FEBRUARY 17, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Warders and their bosses at Papua New Guinea's Bomana...
Warders and their bosses at Papua New Guinea's Bomana prison don't want to be the ones to hang a convicted killer
- JANUARY 30, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
The National Council of Women announced in a press...
The National Council of Women announced in a press conference that it had changed its stance on capital punishment, stating that its implementation should be introduced
- JANUARY 23, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
A Papua New Guinean court has sentenced a man to death...
A Papua New Guinean court has sentenced a man to death by hanging for the murder of two teenage boys - the fifth person to face the death penalty in the South Pacific nation in the past 12 years
- JANUARY 1, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
By September 2003, 6 people had been sentenced to death...
By September 2003, 6 people had been sentenced to death since the re-introduction of capital punishment in 1991
- JANUARY 1, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty was reinstated by parliament in 1991
The death penalty was reinstated by parliament in 1991
- JANUARY 1, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Murder
Murder
- JANUARY 1, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
The last hanging in Papua New Guinea was in 1957
The last hanging in Papua New Guinea was in 1957
- JANUARY 1, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Murder, treason and piracy are capital crimes
Murder, treason and piracy are capital crimes
- DECEMBER 20, 2002Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
The PNG Post Courier reported that state prosecutors...
The PNG Post Courier reported that state prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for three prisoners who killed a man in front of his family, saying the courts were slow in imposing the maximum penalty on serious and worst-type offenders
- DECEMBER 5, 2002Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare...
It was reported that Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare directed the Justice Department to review penalties in relation to addressing law and order problems in the country
- JULY 13, 2002Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
PNG's leading daily newspaper, the Post-Courier, called...
PNG's leading daily newspaper, the Post-Courier, called for the introduction of public hangings following a bizarre double murder of a mother and her toddler daughter
- JULY 12, 2002Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Papua New Guinea's first court martial convened to...
Papua New Guinea's first court martial convened to hear mutiny-related charges arising from the Moem Barracks soldiers uprising in Wewak earlier in 2002
- JULY 11, 2002Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
A young Central Province mother and her three-year-old...
A young Central Province mother and her three-year-old child were brutally murdered and dumped atop Burns Peak hill in Papua New Guinea recently
- JUNE 3, 2002Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
A Papua New Guinea judge warned that he will not hesitate...
A Papua New Guinea judge warned that he will not hesitate to impose the death penalty in the worst cases of murder
- MARCH 11, 2002Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
The law on capital punishment, as passed by Parliament,...
The law on capital punishment, as passed by Parliament, is yet to be carried out "to the fullest"
- MARCH 8, 2002Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Police caught a second man allegedly involved in the...
Police caught a second man allegedly involved in the brutal attack on a Porebada family outside of Port Moresby on March 5
- JANUARY 1, 2002Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Murder, treason and piracy are capital crimes
Murder, treason and piracy are capital crimes
- DECEMBER 10, 2001Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
A group of concerned people in Lae City began a push...
A group of concerned people in Lae City began a push for changes to the serious crime laws to fight the rising lawlessness in the country
- DECEMBER 10, 2001Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Papua New Guineans must be afforded the right to "have...
Papua New Guineans must be afforded the right to "have a say" on important national issues through referendum votes from time to time, Kokopo MP Sir Rabbie Namaliu said during grievance debate in Parliament
- DECEMBER 7, 2001Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Speaking on the severity of punishment as a supposed...
Speaking on the severity of punishment as a supposed deterrence to crime, Auxiliary Bishop of Mt Hagen Bishop Douglas Young said it was the certainty of punishment that deterred crime-the knowledge that the criminal, high or low, rich or poor, powerful or
- DECEMBER 5, 2001Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Markham Open MP Andrew Baing asked Papua New Guinea's...
Markham Open MP Andrew Baing asked Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta if his Government was bold enough to introduce the death penalty for major crimes like wilful murder, pack-rape and rape
- NOVEMBER 27, 2001Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Papua New Guinea politicians made renewed calls for...
Papua New Guinea politicians made renewed calls for the death penalty for the most serious cases of rape and murder following the callous killing of a Roman Catholic priest
- AUGUST 30, 2001Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Judah Akesim, MP for Ambunti-Drekikir, wants police...
Judah Akesim, MP for Ambunti-Drekikir, wants police to give licences to all Papua New Guineans so that everyone should have a gun in his possession
- JANUARY 1, 2001Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Murder, treason and piracy are capital crimes
Murder, treason and piracy are capital crimes
- DECEMBER 1, 2000Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Police in Indonesia's easternmost province detained...
Police in Indonesia's easternmost province detained pro-independence Papuan Presidium Council Chairman Theys Hiyo Eluay, his secretary general Thaha al-Hamid, Don Flassy, the man behind the concept of Papuan independence, and former political prisoner Joh
- JANUARY 1, 2000Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Murder, treason and piracy are capital crimes
Murder, treason and piracy are capital crimes
- NOVEMBER 11, 1999Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
On November 11, Papua New Guinea's representative Peter...
On November 11, Papua New Guinea's representative Peter Donigi, speaking at the Third Committee of the General Assembly (human rights) under item 116a (death penalty), said: "It seems ironic that there are those amongst us who claim the UN Charter and the
- JANUARY 10, 1999Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
On January 10, Prime Minister Bill Skate said the killing...
On January 10, Prime Minister Bill Skate said the killing of a prime-ministerial staff member Mark Tigat on January 9, during a robbery, would have an impact on the Prime Minister's Department, because he was a well- respected member of the staff
- JANUARY 1, 1999Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Papua New Guinea was a cosponsor of the amendments...
Papua New Guinea was a cosponsor of the amendments presented by Egypt (A/C