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
- APRIL 3, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The Montagnard Foundation (MFI) accused Vietnam of...
The Montagnard Foundation (MFI) accused Vietnam of having executed three members of a Protestant church in the Central Highlands and said others were arrested in several security operations
- MARCH 28, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Nguyen Ton Van, former director of Quoc Binh private...
Nguyen Ton Van, former director of Quoc Binh private enterprise, a trading company, was sentenced to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City for "defrauding and appropriating public property"
- MARCH 27, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A Vietnamese man, Nong Quoc Luong, 25, convicted of...
A Vietnamese man, Nong Quoc Luong, 25, convicted of murdering a friend to steal his motorcycle was blindfolded, tied to a stake and executed by firing squad in Hanoi
- MARCH 21, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A man convicted of murdering two of his cousins and...
A man convicted of murdering two of his cousins and seriously wounding a woman was executed by firing squad in northern Vietnam
- MARCH 18, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
That a Vietnamese man who raped and murdered a 48-year-old...
That a Vietnamese man who raped and murdered a 48-year-old woman was sentenced to death, Agence France-Presse reported
- MARCH 14, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A court in northern Vietnam sentenced six men to death...
A court in northern Vietnam sentenced six men to death for trafficking nearly 90 kilograms of heroin
- MARCH 10, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
In an article about female jail wardens Bui Hong Hanh,...
In an article about female jail wardens Bui Hong Hanh, a 35-year-old warden, was quoted as saying that one need have an "iron nerve" to be capable of witnessing the shock of the prisoners facing the death penalty
- MARCH 3, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The trial of twenty five defendants in the largest...
The trial of twenty five defendants in the largest drug trafficking ring to be detected in Vietnam's northern mountainous Lai Chau province began
- MARCH 1, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong granted amnesty...
Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong granted amnesty to five people on death row, state media said
- FEBRUARY 28, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Two men convicted on murder charges were executed by...
Two men convicted on murder charges were executed by firing squad in Vietnam's capital, state media reported
- FEBRUARY 27, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Three Vietnamese men were condemned to death in Vietnam's...
Three Vietnamese men were condemned to death in Vietnam's central province of Nghe An after being convicted of trafficking drugs from Laos, officials said
- FEBRUARY 25, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A Vietnamese man was sentenced to death for murdering...
A Vietnamese man was sentenced to death for murdering and robbing a motorbike taxi driver in the central province of Lam Dong
- FEBRUARY 25, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Communist Vietnam launched the trial of 155 suspected...
Communist Vietnam launched the trial of 155 suspected gangsters in a showpiece trial aimed at reassuring investors the government is serious about cracking down on crime
- FEBRUARY 24, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A convicted murderer was executed by firing squad in...
A convicted murderer was executed by firing squad in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, court officials said
- FEBRUARY 24, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Four drug traffickers were executed by firing squad...
Four drug traffickers were executed by firing squad in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, court officials said
- FEBRUARY 23, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The Montagnard Foundation website reported the torture...
The Montagnard Foundation website reported the torture and execution of a Degar Montagnard Christian by Vietnamese police
- FEBRUARY 21, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Six drug traffickers were sentenced to death in southern...
Six drug traffickers were sentenced to death in southern Vietnam as part of the government's long-running campaign to wipe out the narcotics trade
- JANUARY 25, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Three people were sentenced to death for murder in...
Three people were sentenced to death for murder in southern Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring Can Tho province
- JANUARY 8, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
An appeals court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld a death...
An appeals court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld a death sentence for Nguyen Thanh Long, 52, convicted last year of raping two girls
- JANUARY 8, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A Vietnamese court condemned Pham Van Thuan to death...
A Vietnamese court condemned Pham Van Thuan to death for trafficking 8 kilograms of heroin from neighbouring Laos into Vietnam, said a court official in Nam Dinh province, 100 kilometres south of Hanoi
- DECEMBER 24, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International spoke out against the death sentence...
Amnesty International spoke out against the death sentence imposed in Vietnam on Le My Linh, 43, an Australian convicted on August 28 of trafficking 888 grams of heroin and 209 grams of diazepam
- DECEMBER 24, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The Vietnamese community in Australia said that the...
The Vietnamese community in Australia said that the federal government should take a tough stand to force Vietnam to stop the firing squad in the case of Le My Linh, an Australian woman convicted on drug offences
- DECEMBER 23, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A Vietnamese court rejected an appeal by Le My Linh,...
A Vietnamese court rejected an appeal by Le My Linh, 43, an Australian woman of Vietnamese origin, who is facing the death penalty for drug trafficking
- DECEMBER 23, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
"I am disappointed that on 23 December the People's...
"I am disappointed that on 23 December the People's Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld the death sentence imposed on Australian citizen, Le My Linh, following her conviction for 'transporting' heroin," read a statement issued by Australian Foreign A
- DECEMBER 20, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Tran Hoai Nam e Nguyen Van Phi, two Vietnamese nationals...
Tran Hoai Nam e Nguyen Van Phi, two Vietnamese nationals of respectively 27 and 28 years of age, were executed by firing squad in Ho Chi Minh City for producing and putting into circulation false banknotes to the value of 50,000 dollars
- DECEMBER 18, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Officials revealed that six drug traffickers were executed...
Officials revealed that six drug traffickers were executed by firing squad in Ha Tinh province, central Vietnam
- NOVEMBER 29, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
State-controlled media reported that a businesswoman...
State-controlled media reported that a businesswoman was sentenced to death in southern Vietnam for embezzling nearly $1 million from the government-owned company she headed
- NOVEMBER 1, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Authorities in Vietnam arrested three Australian sisters...
Authorities in Vietnam arrested three Australian sisters at a southern airport on charges that two of the girls, aged 12 and 14 respectively, were trying to smuggle out heroin
- OCTOBER 29, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Three ethnic minority Christians have been executed...
Three ethnic minority Christians have been executed by Vietnamese authorities as part of a recent crackdown on "illegal" Christian churches, according to the Montagnard Foundation, a human rights watch group based in South Carolina
- OCTOBER 4, 2002VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The number of known drug addicts in Vietnam has almost...
The number of known drug addicts in Vietnam has almost doubled to 131,733 over the past five years despite a government crackdown, state-controlled media reported