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
- OCTOBER 4, 2007United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
AMNESTY CALLS FOR DOCTORS TO BOYCOTT LETHAL INJECTION
Amnesty International has urged doctors and nurses not to participate in
- OCTOBER 4, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
NORTHERN IRELAND. KILLER FACES EXECUTION IF DEPORTED ARGUES QC
a Chinese man who stabbed a fellow illegal immigrant to death in south Belfast,
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2007United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
a United Kingdom official assured Caribbean countries...
a United Kingdom official assured Caribbean countries...
- APRIL 20, 2007United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
UK. HOUSE OF COMMONS, MOTION IN FAVOUR OF MORATORIUM
a motion hailing the Italian initiative on the moratorium on capital punishment was presented to the UK
- APRIL 6, 2007United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR BRITISH CITIZEN
a Vietnam appeals court upheld the death sentence imposed on a British citizen of Vietnamese origin who was convicted of heroin trafficking, state-controlled media reported.
- MARCH 25, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
DUO MAY FACE FIRING SQUAD FOR DRUG CRIMES IF DEPORTED
two illegal immigrants who worked on one of Scotland's biggest cannabis farms face execution when deported, their lawyer claimed.
- JANUARY 8, 2007IraqDEATH PENALTY
UK. BROWN: SADDAM'S EXECUTION 'COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE'
British Chancellor of Exchequer Gordon Brown condemned the hanging of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein as "deplorable" and "completely unacceptable", the BBC reported.
- JANUARY 8, 2007IraqDEATH PENALTY
UK. BLAIR SAYS VIDEO OF SADDAM EXECUTION "DEPLORABLE"
Tony Blair has backed the Iraqi government's announcement of an inquiry into the circumstances of the execution of Saddam Hussein.
- JANUARY 1, 2007United 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...
- DECEMBER 28, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
UN RIGHTS CHIEF CALLS FOR RESTRAINT IN SADDAM CASE
the UN human rights chief called for restraint by Iraqi authorities over Saddam Hussein's death sentence, saying there were concerns about the fairness of the original trial.
- NOVEMBER 25, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM SENTENCES FOUR INCLUDING BRITISH CITIZEN TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
a Vietnamese court sentenced to death four people, including a British citizen of Vietnamese origin, after convicting them of drug trafficking.
- NOVEMBER 16, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE FOR BRITON: OFFICIAL
President Pervez Musharraf has commuted the death sentence for a British man who has been in jail in Pakistan for the past 18 years for a murder he says he didn't commit, Pakistan's interior minister said.
- OCTOBER 19, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. DEATH ROW BRITON GETS TWO-MONTH REPRIEVE
it was announced that the execution of Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British man held in Pakistan, will not take place during Prince Charles's visit to the country.
- OCTOBER 19, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN DENIES BRITISH PRESSURE HELPED DELAY EXECUTION
Pakistan said it did not postpone the execution of Mirza Tahir Hussain under pressure from London, adding that the two-month delay was meant to give relatives time to reach a compromise.
- OCTOBER 18, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM. BLAIR URGES PAKISTAN TO STAY BRITON'S EXECUTION
Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to intervene again to halt the hanging of a British national, scheduled to occur during a royal visit to his country. And it also emerged that Prince Charles, due to visit Pakistan at th
- OCTOBER 16, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. NEW EXECUTION DATE SET FOR BRITON
the brother of a Leeds man on death row in Pakistan made an urgent appeal for his life after hearing he was to be executed in two weeks.
- OCTOBER 2, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. PRISON AUTHORITIES ASK FOR FRESH DATE TO HANG BRITON
Pakistani prison authorities asked a court to fix a new date for the execution of a British man sentenced to hang in a case that was raised by Prime Minister Tony Blair with President Pervez Musharrafa few days earlier.
- AUGUST 16, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. THIRD EXECUTION DELAY FOR MAN ON DEATH ROW
PAKISTAN. THIRD EXECUTION DELAY FOR MAN ON DEATH ROW August 16, 2006: Mirza Tahir Hussain, on death row in Pakistan for killing a taxi driver, was granted a stay of execution till October 1. Hussain, 36, had spent half his life in jail after being con
- JULY 31, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. FAMILY OF SLAIN CAB DRIVER DEMAND BRITON’S EXECUTION
the family of a slain Pakistani taxi driver demanded that Mirza Tahir Hussain, the British man convicted of killing him...
- JULY 27, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. STAY OF EXECUTION FOR DEATH ROW BRITON
Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, granted a one-month stay of execution to Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British man who was due to be put to death a week later.
- JULY 22, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. BRITISH NATIONAL AGAIN ON DEATH ROW
Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British man convicted of killing a taxi driver in Pakistan, has been put on death row for a third time and will be hanged on August 3...
- MAY 23, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. HANGING OF BRITON POSTPONED
Pakistan postponed the execution of Briton Mirza Tahir Hussain for a month in order to give his family the chance to reach a settlement with the family of a taxi driver he was convicted of murdering.
- MAY 20, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
EU. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SEEKS MERCY FOR BRITON IN PAKISTAN
the European Parliament wrote to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf asking him to spare the life of a British man due to hang in June for the murder of a taxi driver 18 years ago.
- MAY 18, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
BRITAIN. BLAIR ASKS MUSHARRAF TO STOP BRITON BEING HANGED
Britain asked Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf to stop the hanging of Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British man convicted of shooting dead a taxi driver 18 years ago.
- MAY 14, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
BRITAIN. FOREIGN SECRETARY PLEADS WITH MUSHARRAF TO SPARE TOURIST CONDEMNED TO HANG
it was reported that new British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, will make a personal plea to President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan to spare the life of Mirza Tahir Hussain, from Leeds, due to be hanged at dawn at the Adiala central jail in Rawalpin
- MAY 9, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM. 'I'LL DIE IF YOU SEND ME HOME TO IRAN'
Fatema Torabi, a teacher who fears being stoned to death in Iran after being accused of adultery there appealed to Scottish judges to save her.
- APRIL 19, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. CHINA “SELLING PRISONERS' ORGANS”, BRITISH TRANSPLANTATION SOCIETY
top British transplant surgeons accused China of harvesting the organs of thousands of executed prisoners a year to sell for transplants.
- APRIL 19, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
CHINA, IRAN, SAUDI, US MAIN EXECUTIONERS, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
more than 2,000 people were known to have been executed around the world last year, the vast majority of them in China, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States, Amnesty International said.
- MARCH 25, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM. MAN 'FACES DEATH IF EXPELLED' TO IRAN
an Iranian man will be executed for owning a satellite television system if he is sent home, MP Clare Short told Britain’s House of Commons. Short pleaded with Ministers to reconsider the case of the man and his family, after the Home Office ordered his d
- MARCH 10, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM. HANGED PRISONER'S BODY IS EXHUMED
the body of George Kelly, a man who was hanged in 1950 for a murder he did not commit, was to be exhumed from its prison grave. Kelly was executed after he was found guilty of being involved in a notorious double murder at the Cameo Cinema in Wavertree, L