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
JUNE 12, 2023VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: 10 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
The People's Court of the northwestern province of Son La handed out 10 death penalties and one life sentence to members of a drug trafficking ring during trials from June 1-5.
JUNE 6, 2023VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: TWO AUSTRALIANS FACING DEATH PENALTY GRANTED CLEMENCY
Two Australians sentenced to death in Vietnam have been granted clemency after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid an official visit to the Southeast Asian country.
MAY 23, 2023VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: KOREAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING COMPATRIOT AND CUTTING UP BODY
HCMC People's Court sentenced a South Korean businessman to death on May 19, 2023 for murdering a countryman over an unpaid debt before cutting his body into pieces.
- DECEMBER 27, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: HANOI WOMAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
The People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City has sentenced a woman from Hanoi to death for trafficking 9.9 kilograms of heroin.
- DECEMBER 7, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: 3 MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRANSPORTING 3KG OF METH
A court in the central Quang Tri Province sentenced three men to death on 29 November 2022 for sending three kilograms of methamphetamine through an express delivery company.
NOVEMBER 28, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: HCMC WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DEADLY ABUSE OF 8-YEAR-OLD GIRL
A woman who had beaten her fiancé's daughter to death in HCMC last year was sentenced to death on 25 November 2022, while the father received eight years in prison.
OCTOBER 17, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: 30-YEAR-OLD MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING THREE-YEAR-OLD GIRL
A 30-year-old Hanoian was sentenced to death on 13 October 2022 for killing his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter by hammering nails into her head.
OCTOBER 3, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: CHIEF ACCOUNTANT SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR EMBEZZLING HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DONG TO GAMBLE
After a week of deliberation, on the afternoon of 30 September 2022, the People’s Court of Dong Thap province sentenced defendant Nguyen Trung Thanh, former chief accountant of Pilmico Vietnam Co. Ltd.
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: DEATH ROW INMATE DANG VAN HIEN GETS REDUCED SENTENCE
Vietnamese President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has commuted the death sentence of Dang Van Hien and reduced it to life in prison, Hien’s wife, Mai Thi Khuyen, told RFA on 15 September 2022.
- SEPTEMBER 8, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: TWO RECEIVE DEATH FOR THROWING DRUG-FUELED PARTIES AT HANOI MENTAL HOSPITAL
Two people in Hanoi were sentenced to death on 31 August 2022 after throwing drug-related parties and selling/storing narcotics inside a mental hospital.
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: 7 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR NARCOTIC TRANSPORTATION
The People’s Court in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap on 3 August 2022 sentenced seven people to death for illegally transporting over 45 kilograms of narcotics in 2020.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRIVING DRUG CART AT POLICE
Pham Van Tang, 32 years old, was sentenced to death on 26 August 2022 in Vietnam for driving a motorbike carrying 9 kg of drugs and running at police while under siege in Vu Quang district.
- JULY 31, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: FIVE MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SMUGGLING DRUGS FROM HCMC TO PHILIPPINES
Five men were all sentenced to death on 27 July 2022 in HCMC (Vietnam) for transporting almost 300 kg of methamphetamine to the Philippines in 2019.
JULY 20, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING 5-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER BY THROWING HER INTO RIVER
A man who killed his five-year-old daughter by throwing her into the river earlier this year was sentenced to death by the People’s Court in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam on 18 July 2022.
JUNE 14, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING, MURDERING 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL
A man from An Giang Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta was sentenced to death for raping a 12-year-old girl before murdering her in order to cover up the crime.
MAY 4, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: TWO CHINESE GET DEATH FOR METH PRODUCTION
A court in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum sentenced two Chinese men to death on 16 April 2022 for running an operation producing over 11kg of methamphetamine.
- MAY 1, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: MAN RECEIVES DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING SISTER, STEALING PARENTS’ MONEY
A man from Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region on 12 April 2022 was condemned to death for murdering his elder sister and stealing their parents’ money last year.
- APRIL 10, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: PEOPLE’S COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR BANKER IN $18MN EMBEZZLEMENT CASE
The high-level People’s Court in Hanoi on 5 April 2022 upheld the death penalty handed down to the former director of a bank branch in Hai Phong City, northern Vietnam for embezzling VND414 billion (US$18.1 million).
APRIL 6, 2022VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: SOUTH KOREAN GETS DEATH FOR MURDERING FELLOW CITIZEN IN HCMC
A HCMC court sentenced a South Korean man to death on 28 March 2022 for killing a woman while committing a robbery almost three years ago.
NOVEMBER 18, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: TWO EX-CONVICTS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Two Vietnamese men on 10 November 2021 were sentenced to death for drug trafficking after they had just finished their previous jail terms.
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: THREE LAOTIAN DRUG MULES SENTENCED TO DEATH
A court in central Vietnam on 16 August 2021 handed out death penalties to three Laotian men for transporting heroin and other narcotics.
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SMUGGLING ECSTASY FROM EUROPE TO VIETNAM
A Da Nang City court on 20 September 2021 sentenced to death the kingpin of a gang that smuggled thousands of ecstasy pills into Vietnam last year.
JULY 22, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: HCMC DEATH ROW ESCAPEE RECAPTURED
The HCMC police recaptured on 16 July 2021 morning a death row inmate infected with Covid-19 who had escaped from a high-security prison, the police said.
JULY 8, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: CHINESE MURDERER SENTENCED TO DEATH
The Da Nang People’s Court has sentenced a Chinese man to death for strangling his compatriot to death and butchering her body for disposal, VNA reported on 2 July 2021.
- JUNE 6, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING, RAPING 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL
The People’s Court in the south-central Vietnamese province of Phu Yen on 31 May 2021 condemned a 19-year-old man to death for raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl last year.
MAY 27, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: NIGERIAN RECEIVES DEATH FOR SMUGGLING METH
A Nigerian man was sentenced to death on 25 May 2021 for smuggling nearly six kilos of methamphetamine from Cambodia to Vietnam.
- MAY 22, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: HO CHI MINH CITY COURT SENTENCES THREE TO DEATH FOR DRUG OFFENSES
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on 19 May 2021 imposed the death penalty upon three men for a series of drug-related crimes.
MAY 20, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: HANOI DRUG MULE SENTENCED TO DEATH ON $650 JOB
A Hanoi man received a death sentence for transporting over 2.5 kilos of ecstasy into the city last year.
APRIL 27, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: 19-YEAR-OLD ONLINE GAME ADDICT SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING, ROBBING WOMAN
A teenage boy from the north-central Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa on 26 April 2021 was sentenced to death for murdering a woman and stealing her property last year.
APRIL 26, 2021VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: HANOI DRUG TRAFFICKER SENTENCED TO DEATH
A Da Nang court sentenced one man to death and a woman to life imprisonment on 24 April 2021 for storing and transporting five kilos of drugs.