Thailand
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 Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or...
- News items in the archive
- 448
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Thailand 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 448 news items on Thailand, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- APRIL 3, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Two Dutch citizens of Chinese origin, E
Two Dutch citizens of Chinese origin, E
- MARCH 17, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The Thai Senate voted to introduce fatal injections...
The Thai Senate voted to introduce fatal injections for executions and to abolish the death penalty and life sentences for 14 to 18-year-olds
- MARCH 3, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Bangkok-based diplomats asked Thailand to verify the...
Bangkok-based diplomats asked Thailand to verify the number of deaths caused by the government's crackdown on narcotics, since they found the over 1,000 killings in one month alarming
- FEBRUARY 27, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Thai Ambassador to Indonesia, Dr
Thai Ambassador to Indonesia, Dr
- FEBRUARY 26, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or...
The special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Asma Jahangir, expressed deep concern at the many deaths in Thailand's war on drugs, the Bangkok Post reported
- FEBRUARY 26, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Thailand brushed off United Nations criticism of its...
Thailand brushed off United Nations criticism of its bloody war on drugs, saying dealers and traffickers ran the risk of violent death
- FEBRUARY 25, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The parents of a young English teacher stabbed to death...
The parents of a young English teacher stabbed to death in Thailand made a plea for the woman accused of his murder not to face the death penalty
- FEBRUARY 20, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
``We have two executioners in the prison and when the...
``We have two executioners in the prison and when the new law is in place they will stop shooting guns and will train to help doctors with injections,'' said Pittaya Sangkhanakin, chief of the Bang Kwang maximum security prison, in regards to the lower ho
- FEBRUARY 19, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The lower house voted 288-60 to change Thailand's long-standing...
The lower house voted 288-60 to change Thailand's long-standing execution method to lethal injections, arguing they are less painful and cruel than shooting prisoners with a machine gun
- FEBRUARY 13, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International spoke out against the deaths...
Amnesty International spoke out against the deaths of 352 suspects since a war on drugs was launched in Thailand in the beginning of February
- FEBRUARY 4, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Twenty-three suspected drug traffickers have been killed...
Twenty-three suspected drug traffickers have been killed since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's most recent war on drugs got under way, police in Thailand reported
- FEBRUARY 3, 2003ThailandDEATH 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 31, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The Thanyaburi Provincial Court in Pathum Thani sentenced...
The Thanyaburi Provincial Court in Pathum Thani sentenced to death four people for producing and trafficking methamphetamine
- JANUARY 13, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Viktoria Mamontova, a Ukrainian woman who was sentenced...
Viktoria Mamontova, a Ukrainian woman who was sentenced to death for drug possession in Thailand, had her sentence commuted
- DECEMBER 28, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Ah Thwe, 19, a Burmese man, was sentenced to death...
Ah Thwe, 19, a Burmese man, was sentenced to death by the Provincial Court for killing his American boss and four other people
- NOVEMBER 20, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Thailand's Parliament unanimously passed a bill to...
Thailand's Parliament unanimously passed a bill to change the method of execution from shooting to lethal injection
- NOVEMBER 17, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The Criminal Court ordered that a couple who were arrested...
The Criminal Court ordered that a couple who were arrested and detained for embezzling over Bt1
- NOVEMBER 1, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Gary Jones, 53, of Southall, west London, was arrested...
Gary Jones, 53, of Southall, west London, was arrested at Bangkok airport when customs officials found 2
- OCTOBER 15, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Three members of a southern Muslim separatist movement...
Three members of a southern Muslim separatist movement were convicted of treason and sentenced to death, but their sentences were reduced to life imprisonment because they cooperated with the police investigation
- OCTOBER 7, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that Thongkham Kaewkongma, 30, a member...
It was reported that Thongkham Kaewkongma, 30, a member of the 1st Territorial Defence Company based in Mae Hong Son was executed for spying after being caught by Burmese rebels on September 25
- OCTOBER 4, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The Criminal Court sentenced a man to death after he...
The Criminal Court sentenced a man to death after he was convicted of possessing more than Bt2
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The number of death-row inmates in Thailand's Bang...
The number of death-row inmates in Thailand's Bang Kwang Prison reached a record high of 690 since the government took its tough stance against drug traffickers in 2001
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
A British man was spared the death penalty but jailed...
A British man was spared the death penalty but jailed for life in Thailand for smuggling 4kg of heroin out of the country
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The UK Government has been urged to intervene in the...
The UK Government has been urged to intervene in the case of a Briton facing a possible death penalty in Thailand for smuggling drugs
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Somkliang Soyplai, 44, was executed by shooting
Somkliang Soyplai, 44, was executed by shooting
- AUGUST 22, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Major Chalermchai Majchaklam of the Supreme Command...
Major Chalermchai Majchaklam of the Supreme Command was sentenced to death for conspiracy to commit first degree murder
- AUGUST 17, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
A Thai and an Indian, namely Saelow Praset, 55, and...
A Thai and an Indian, namely Saelow Praset, 55, and Ayodya Praset Combay, 57, both sentenced to death for trying to smuggle heroin into Indonesia, expressed complaints to the press over the long delay concerning the reply to their application for a Presid
- AUGUST 1, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
A 20-year-old woman acquitted of drug charges in a...
A 20-year-old woman acquitted of drug charges in a lower court has been sentenced to death by the Appeals Court that upheld a prosecution appeal against the Criminal Court's verdict
- JULY 17, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Visit Puengrasamee was sentenced to death after being...
Visit Puengrasamee was sentenced to death after being found guilty of conspiring to murder businessman Kasem Khamwongsa, although the gunman he had hired mistakenly shot dead Kasem's adopted son, Chaiyakorn Maihom
- JULY 10, 2002ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The Thai Appeals Court upheld a ruling by the Criminal...
The Thai Appeals Court upheld a ruling by the Criminal Court sentencing 10 police officers to death and one to life imprisonment for the killing of four defence volunteers in 1994