United Kingdom
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 · The provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 abolished...
- News items in the archive
- 423
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
United Kingdom 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 423 news items on United Kingdom, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
FEBRUARY 20, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - British Nationals Craig and Lindsay Foreman Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison
- NOVEMBER 14, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - British Prisoners Craig and Lindsay Foreman Go on Hunger Strike
- OCTOBER 22, 2025IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA TO REPATRIATE TWO BRITISH NATIONALS, INCLUDING A GRANDMOTHER ON DEATH ROW
Indonesia signed an agreement on October 21, 2025 to repatriate two British nationals, including a seriously ill grandmother who had been on death row for more than a decade on drug charges, a minister said.
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Update on the condition of the Foremans
British nationals arrested while crossing Iran on motorbikes
- FEBRUARY 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Craig and Lindsay Foreman charged with espionage
British couple
- FEBRUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - British couple arrested in Iran identified
Craig and Lindsay Foreman
- FEBRUARY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Two British citizens, a man and a woman, arrested on vague charges.
Yet another episode of ‘hostage taking’ by the Iranian regime.
- MAY 20, 2024United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
May 20, 2024 . United Kingdom. Assange wins right to challenge US extradition
APRIL 16, 2024AustraliaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Binding Assurances that Julian Assange Will Not Face the Death Penalty
- MARCH 26, 2024United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM - Assange can’t be extradited until US rules out death penalty
FEBRUARY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - UK sanctions Iranian judges, commanders and regional governors
- FEBRUARY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Terror Threats Force Persian TV Channel
JANUARY 14, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran has executed British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari
Accused of spying for Great Britain
NOVEMBER 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Iran tried to assassinate British residents 10 times this year
MI5 reveals
- MARCH 21, 2022United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
SCOTLAND: GOVERNMENT APOLOGIZES FOR WOMEN KILLED FOR WITCHCRAFT
Scotland’s Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon on 8 March 2022 in Edinburgh issued an official government pardon for thousands of women convicted of witchcraft in XVI and XVII Centuries and were killed “simply because they were women.
MARCH 16, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anousheh Ashouri Freed
- JUNE 8, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM: FOREIGN SECRETARY URGED TO INTERVENE IN SAUDI ARABIA DEATH PENALTY CASES
The relatives of two men awaiting execution in Saudi Arabia on 7 June 2021 asked British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to press for their release while he visits the kingdom.
MARCH 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - New trial for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Charges of “propaganda against the system”
- MARCH 7, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Iran frees British-Iranian aid worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Her British passport has not been returned to her
- NOVEMBER 17, 2020United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
UK - Professor Roger Hood, one of the founders of the international movement for the abolition of the death penalty, passed away.
UK - Professor Roger Hood, one of the founders of the international movement for the abolition of the death penalty, passed away.
OCTOBER 7, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Islamic State 'Beatles' in court over US hostages' deaths.
USA - Islamic State 'Beatles' in court over US hostages' deaths.
- APRIL 8, 2020United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
DEATH PENALTY PROJECT PUBLISHES LATEST REPORT ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE CARIBBEAN
“The Death Penalty Project” on 7 April 2020 published its latest report: “Sentenced to Death Without Execution: Why capital punishment has not yet been abolished in the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados” by Professor Roger Hood and Dr Florence Seemungal with
- MARCH 25, 2020United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
UK - USA. United Kingdom Supreme Court Rules Britain Cannot Provide Evidence to U.S. for Use in Death-Penalty Cases.
UK - USA. United Kingdom Supreme Court Rules Britain Cannot Provide Evidence to U.S. for Use in Death-Penalty Cases.
- JANUARY 1, 2020United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The United Kingdom abolished the death penalty for murder on December 18...
The United Kingdom abolished the death penalty for murder on December 18...
- JULY 30, 2019United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
LONDON: REPORT ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN SAUDI ARABIA OF BARONESS KENNEDY PRESENTED
The Report on the death penalty in Saudi Arabia prepared by Baroness Helena Kennedy on the basis of official documents, direct testimonies and open sources was presented on 29 July 2019 at the House of Commons in London.
JULY 16, 2019United KingdomDEATH PENALTYUK: ASSANGE WILL NOT BE EXTRADITED TO ANY COUNTRY WITH DEATH PENALTY
UK Minister of State for Europe and the Americas Alan Duncan has reaffirmed that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would not be extradited to “anywhere where he could face capital punishment”, the independent Spanish news agency EFE reports.
APRIL 10, 2019United KingdomDEATH PENALTYAMNESTY: GLOBAL EXECUTIONS FELL BY NEARLY A THIRD LAST YEAR
Global executions fell dramatically by almost a third (31%) last year to the lowest figure for at least a decade, Amnesty International said in its annual global review of the death penalty.
- FEBRUARY 26, 2019United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
DRUG OFFENCE EXECUTIONS MORE THAN HALVE IN 2018 AFTER IRAN REFORM
Human rights experts have hailed a sharp drop in executions for drug offences in 2018, even as they expressed worries over a large number of people worldwide still facing the death penalty for non-violent drug crimes.
- JANUARY 1, 2019United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The United Kingdom abolished the death penalty for murder on December 18...
The United Kingdom abolished the death penalty for murder on December 18...
- JULY 23, 2018United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
THE GUARDIAN VIEW ON THE DEATH PENALTY: BARBARISM BY JIHADISTS IS NO JUSTIFICATION / EDITORIAL
“Nearly all western democracies, as well as dozens of other countries, have abandoned capital punishment.