Vietnam
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 · Since 1997, possession or smuggling at least 100g or...
- News items in the archive
- 784
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Vietnam 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 784 news items on Vietnam, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- MARCH 31, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court, Vietnam, handed...
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court, Vietnam, handed down two death sentences to Nguyen Chi Dung, the head of an armed gang that preyed on goods trucks and vehicles in the southern Mekong Delta region
- MARCH 31, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Nguyen Anh Tuan, a 24-year-old Vietnamese drug addict,...
Nguyen Anh Tuan, a 24-year-old Vietnamese drug addict, was put to death by firing squad at dawn in Ho Chi Minh City for murdering a motorbike taxi driver in January 2001 to fund his heroin addiction
- MARCH 31, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Four people, including a married couple, were sentenced...
Four people, including a married couple, were sentenced to death in Vietnam after being convicted of smuggling drugs into the country from Laos
- MARCH 31, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The People's Court in Vietnam's southern province of...
The People's Court in Vietnam's southern province of Binh Phuoc sentenced to death Nguyen Hai Son, 40
- MARCH 31, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Nguyen Ngoc Tam, a 47-year-old Cambodian national of...
Nguyen Ngoc Tam, a 47-year-old Cambodian national of Vietnamese origin, was executed in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City for belonging to a methamphetamine manufacturing and trafficking network
- MARCH 25, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Hoang Thi Dan, a 46 year old woman convicted of drug...
Hoang Thi Dan, a 46 year old woman convicted of drug trafficking, was sentenced to death by the People's Court in Hai Phong city, northern Vietnam, for illegally transporting and trafficking drugs
- MARCH 22, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Ho Van Thanh, a 47-year-old man, was sentenced to death...
Ho Van Thanh, a 47-year-old man, was sentenced to death by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court, Vietnam, for murdering a man while in a drunken rage
- MARCH 19, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Luong Van Thanh, 22, and Nguyen Van Hoa, 48, were executed...
Luong Van Thanh, 22, and Nguyen Van Hoa, 48, were executed at dawn by firing squad at Hanoi's Cau Nga, Vietnam, for drug trafficking
- MARCH 18, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Vietnam, which has been criticised by some human rights...
Vietnam, which has been criticised by some human rights groups for its use of capital punishment, agreed to host a meeting on the issue, visiting British Minister of State Mike O'Brien said
- MARCH 18, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Nguyen Huu Nghia, 27, and Pham Van Quoc Vinh, 26, were...
Nguyen Huu Nghia, 27, and Pham Van Quoc Vinh, 26, were executed by firing squad at dawn in Vietnam's southern business capital of Ho Chi Minh City for murder and armed robbery
- MARCH 17, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The people's court in northern Haiphong City, Vietnam,...
The people's court in northern Haiphong City, Vietnam, sentenced to death Tran Thi Bach Diep, a 42 year old woman and gave life imprisonment to a man and a woman for running a drug trafficking ring that was uncovered in October 2002
- MARCH 4, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Ngo Viet Anh, 27, was executed by firing squad after...
Ngo Viet Anh, 27, was executed by firing squad after being convicted of killing a rival gangster in a turf war for control of the crime scene in Vietnam's northeastern port city of Haiphong
- MARCH 1, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Vo Thanh Trung, a 24-year-old unemployed man, was sentenced...
Vo Thanh Trung, a 24-year-old unemployed man, was sentenced to death by firing squad by a court in Vietnam's southern province of Can Tho after being convicted of murdering his neighbour, Huynh Van Quy, in October 2003
- FEBRUARY 27, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Nguyen Dang Chung, a 19-year-old unemployed man, was...
Nguyen Dang Chung, a 19-year-old unemployed man, was sentenced to death by a court in Bac Ninh for the murder of his 80-year-old neighbour in August 2003
- FEBRUARY 26, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A Vietnam court sentenced four members of an international...
A Vietnam court sentenced four members of an international drug trafficking ring to death by firing squad and four others, including an American citizen, to life behind bars
- FEBRUARY 26, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, Director of Amnesty International...
Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, Director of Amnesty International USA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, released the following statement on the impending execution of Hung Thanh Le, a Vietnamese foreign national who was on death row in Oklahoma and schedule
- FEBRUARY 26, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Hung Thanh Le, convicted in the death of a fellow refugee...
Hung Thanh Le, convicted in the death of a fellow refugee from Vietnam, was granted a stay of execution by Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry, a Democrat, at Hanoi's request an hour before the scheduled execution
- FEBRUARY 26, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Hung Thanh Le, convicted in the death of a fellow refugee...
Hung Thanh Le, convicted in the death of a fellow refugee from Vietnam, was granted a stay of execution by Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry, a Democrat, at Hanoi's request an hour before the scheduled execution
- FEBRUARY 24, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Nguyen Van Tien, a 21-year-old Vietnamese man, was...
Nguyen Van Tien, a 21-year-old Vietnamese man, was sentenced to death by firing squad after being convicted of murdering and robbing a woman to fund the purchase of a fighting cock
- FEBRUARY 21, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The European Union said it was considering a response...
The European Union said it was considering a response to the decision by Vietnam's Government to stop releasing details about the use of the death penalty in the country
- FEBRUARY 17, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Four people, including two women, were executed by...
Four people, including two women, were executed by firing squad in Vietnam after being convicted on murder and drug trafficking charges an official said
- FEBRUARY 14, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The Hanoi Supreme People's Court, Vietnam, upheld the...
The Hanoi Supreme People's Court, Vietnam, upheld the death sentences handed down to the three men and a woman in August 2003 for smuggling heroin and opium into the country from Laos
- FEBRUARY 12, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Nguyen Le Hong, female, was executed by firing squad...
Nguyen Le Hong, female, was executed by firing squad in southern Vietnam's Tien Giang province, after being sentenced to death for running a robbery network
- FEBRUARY 10, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The Hanoi People's Court in Vietnam sentenced to death...
The Hanoi People's Court in Vietnam sentenced to death Nguyen Van Tuyen, 40, after finding him guilty of stabbing his partner in the neck with a screwdriver and beating her with a hoe on July 4, 2003
- FEBRUARY 10, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The Ho Chi Minh City Supreme People's Court, Vietnam,...
The Ho Chi Minh City Supreme People's Court, Vietnam, ruled that the death sentence handed down to Huynh Van Gioi, 20, in November 2003 should stand
- FEBRUARY 9, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The Ho Chi Minh City Supreme People's Court, Vietnam,...
The Ho Chi Minh City Supreme People's Court, Vietnam, ruled that the death sentence handed down to Huynh Van Gioi in November 2003 for murdering a 10-year-old girl should stand
- FEBRUARY 4, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Sweden's Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds told Swedish...
Sweden's Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds told Swedish Radio that Vietnam would try to abolish the death penalty within 10 years but had problems convincing the public that capital punishment was not needed
- JANUARY 28, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry denied clemency to Hung...
Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry denied clemency to Hung Thanh Le, a Vietnamese national scheduled to die in the state's execution chamber, despite a pardon board recommendation to commute the death sentence
- JANUARY 19, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Hoang Duy Nghia, 21, was sentenced to death following...
Hoang Duy Nghia, 21, was sentenced to death following a one day trial by the People's Court of the southern province of Binh Duong, Vietnam
- JANUARY 8, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Following a one day trial, the People's Court of the...
Following a one day trial, the People's Court of the northern province of Bac Giang, Vietnam, sentenced to death Dinh Dinh Lam, 34, Giang A Chong, 25, and their female accomplice Nguyen Thi Mai, 37, after finding them guilty of trafficking 2