Uganda
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist de facto
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Uganda was a cosponsor of the amendments presented...
- News items in the archive
- 368
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Uganda is classified as Abolitionist de facto 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 368 news items on Uganda, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2001UgandaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is not a punishment and should be...
The death penalty is not a punishment and should be scrapped from Uganda laws, the director of human resources at the Bank of Uganda, Magala Nyago, said
- AUGUST 31, 2001UgandaDEATH PENALTY
A Kampala lawyer, Gerald Kakuba of Kiboijana, and Company...
A Kampala lawyer, Gerald Kakuba of Kiboijana, and Company Advocates told the Constitutional Review Commission that the death penalty should be struck off the Constitution
- AUGUST 6, 2001UgandaDEATH PENALTY
According to the independent 'Monitor' newspaper, 52...
According to the independent 'Monitor' newspaper, 52 death sentences have been carried out in Uganda since President Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM) came to power in 1986
- AUGUST 6, 2001UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Leading human rights campaigner Livingstone Sewanyana...
Leading human rights campaigner Livingstone Sewanyana called for the Ugandan government to abolish the death penalty as part of its ongoing constitutional review
- AUGUST 1, 2001UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Apollo Makubuya, a human rights researcher, told the...
Apollo Makubuya, a human rights researcher, told the Constitutional Review Commission that 55 prisoners were hanged in the last 10 years for murder, rape or aggravated robbery
- AUGUST 1, 2001UgandaDEATH PENALTY
There are over 200 prisoners on death row in Uganda
There are over 200 prisoners on death row in Uganda
- JUNE 20, 2001UgandaDEATH PENALTY
It was revealed that the Uganda Prisons Service recruited...
It was revealed that the Uganda Prisons Service recruited six hangmen to undergo specialised training in carrying out executions
- MAY 23, 2001UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Justice Moses Mukiibi of the High Court sentenced to...
Justice Moses Mukiibi of the High Court sentenced to death Shadrak Magara Rwakasisi one of the two former Makerere University students for murdering Warren Bantariza a fellow student in 1994
- FEBRUARY 8, 2001UgandaDEATH PENALTY
A 15-member team has been named to review some contentious...
A 15-member team has been named to review some contentious issues of the 1995 constitution, including the death penalty, dual citizenship, federalism and political systems
- JANUARY 1, 2001UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Uganda's new Constitution, adopted 5 years ago, retains...
Uganda's new Constitution, adopted 5 years ago, retains the death sentence for crimes including treason, rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder and arms trading
- NOVEMBER 21, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
A total of 180 people in Uganda were put to death...
A total of 180 people in Uganda were put to death by lynch since the beginning of the year 2000, the country's police spokesman Eric Naigambi stated
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
A Court of Appeal upheld the death sentence passed...
A Court of Appeal upheld the death sentence passed by the High Court against two Indian brothers, Kooky Sharmar and Davinder Kumar, for killing Kooky's wife Renu Joshi in 1997
- AUGUST 6, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
The High Court sentenced Janet Nyero Mureeba, Ismail...
The High Court sentenced Janet Nyero Mureeba, Ismail Aliga and Kassim Byaruhanga to death for the murder of Norah Mureeba, who was eight months pregnant, and her one-and-a half-year-old daughter Gabriella last in July 2000
- JULY 30, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
The Vatican ambassador to Uganda, Archbishop Christophe...
The Vatican ambassador to Uganda, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, reaffirmed the Catholic church's strong stand against the death penalty which is still used in many countries
- JULY 28, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
An army private was sentenced to death by hanging for...
An army private was sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of three fellow soldiers at Gulu barracks in northern Uganda
- JULY 21, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
The Uganda Human Rights Initiative (UFHRI) thanked...
The Uganda Human Rights Initiative (UFHRI) thanked President Yoweri Museveni for commuting sentences of 16 convicts on 13th July and called for a moratorium on the death penalty
- JULY 13, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni commuted death sentences...
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni commuted death sentences of 16 condemned prisoners by reducing the sentences of 12 of them to life imprisonment and freeing four others
- JULY 3, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International appealed to Presidents Yoweri...
Amnesty International appealed to Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda to end atrocities by their troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
- APRIL 3, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
The Court of Appeal confirmed a death sentence passed...
The Court of Appeal confirmed a death sentence passed by the High Court against former under secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Obote II's regime Anthony Okwanga
- MARCH 9, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
The Court of Appeal confirmed a death sentence against...
The Court of Appeal confirmed a death sentence against Kampala businessman Johnson Kamya Wavamunno convicted of murder and robbery by the High Court last year
- FEBRUARY 25, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
A USA 1999 country report on human rights practices...
A USA 1999 country report on human rights practices ranked Uganda among the top six African countries where human rights were grossly abused
- FEBRUARY 23, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Jehoash...
Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Jehoash Mayanja Nkangi warned that the ministry will not be bullied into changing the death penalty law
- JANUARY 25, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
President Yoweri Museveni was under mounting pressure...
President Yoweri Museveni was under mounting pressure from church groups and human rights activists to pardon the 271 inmates on death row at the Luzira Maximum Prison, outside the capital city of Kampala
- JANUARY 18, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Sharma Kooky, a Kampala Asian businessman, was convicted...
Sharma Kooky, a Kampala Asian businessman, was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging, for murdering his wife Renu Joshi
- JANUARY 1, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
In 1999, 28 people were executed in Uganda
In 1999, 28 people were executed in Uganda
- JANUARY 1, 2000UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Uganda's new Constitution, adopted 5 years ago, retains...
Uganda's new Constitution, adopted 5 years ago, retains the death sentence for crimes including treason, rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder and arms trading
- DECEMBER 30, 1999UgandaDEATH PENALTY
On December 30, Condemned prisoner Ronald Gabula said...
On December 30, Condemned prisoner Ronald Gabula said over 50 death convicts would soon go to the gallows if President Museveni did not pardon them immediately
- DECEMBER 28, 1999UgandaDEATH PENALTY
On December 28, Justice and Constitutional Affairs...
On December 28, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Jehoash Mayanja Nkangi said the Cabinet rejected recommendations by the Law Reform Commission to scrap the death penalty for rapists and defilers
- NOVEMBER 1, 1999UgandaDEATH PENALTY
In November, some 500 treason suspects, who face possible...
In November, some 500 treason suspects, who face possible execution if convicted, went on strike over poor conditions in prison and the failure of the authorities to hear their case
- OCTOBER 26, 1999UgandaDEATH PENALTY
On October 26, President Museveni announced that he...
On October 26, President Museveni announced that he had pardoned a notorious Idi Amin army officer