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
- 786
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 786 news items on Vietnam, from 1999 to today.
In Vietnam the number of executions is treated as a state secret. Figures emerge intermittently, often from internal documents. Capital punishment concerns above all drug offences and serious economic crimes, and since 2011 the method has been lethal injection, which replaced shooting.
The archive gathers the known sentences, individual cases and the rare official information.
Latest news
JULY 22, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: THREE PRISONERS EXECUTED
Three prisoners have been executed in Vietnam in different cases, state media reported.
JUNE 27, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: AUSTRALIAN MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR HEROIN POSSESSION
State-controlled media say a court in southern Vietnam has sentenced an Australian citizen to death for
JUNE 19, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: COURT CONFIRMS 29 DEATH SENTENCES
The Supreme People's Court in the northern province of Quang Ninh refused to revoke death sentences
JUNE 1, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: VIETNAMESE SEAMSTRESS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
A Vietnamese seamstress was sentenced to death by hanging by a High Court in Malaysia after she was
MAY 21, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH IN DIFFERENT DRUG CASES
Two Ho Chi Minh City courts independently sentenced a disabled man and an Australian Vietnamese to
MAY 13, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: MINISTRY OF JUSTICE CONSIDERS SCALING BACK DEATH PENALTY
Dan Viet newspaper quoted a ministry official as saying the Ministry of Justice was drafting amendments to
MAY 5, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: EX PRISON GUARD SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG, GUN SMUGGLING
An appeals court in Ho Chi Minh City increased the sentence of a former prison guard from life to death for
APRIL 22, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: AMERICAN MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR HEROIN
State media say a court in Vietnam has sentenced an American to death for heroin trafficking.
- APRIL 8, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: JUSTICE MINISTRY PROPOUNDS REDUCTION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Tran Tien Dung, chief secretariat of the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice, said the Ministry had suggested the
APRIL 4, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: SUPREME PEOPLE’S COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE TO THAI DRUG MULE
The Supreme People’s Court, Vietnam’s highest court, upheld the death sentence to a Thai woman for
- MARCH 24, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR SLASHER ROBBER
A 21-year-old man who led a machete-armed gang that hacked off a woman's hand and violently robbed at
MARCH 21, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: SAIGON WOMAN WANTS TO MARRY A DEATH ROW PRISONER
The Supreme People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City recently received the application of a 26-year-old
MARCH 13, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: BANKER SENTENCED TO DEATH IN GRAND SCAM
A court in the Central Highlands gave the death sentence to a Vietnam Development Bank (VDB) executive
- FEBRUARY 11, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: UNITED NATIONS TO FREEZE COUNTER-NARCOTICS AID
three leading anti-death penalty groups have appealed to the United Nations to freeze counter-narcotics
JANUARY 20, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: 30 PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING IN SINGLE TRIAL
A Vietnamese court sentenced 30 people to death for trafficking heroin at the conclusion of a mass trial.
- JANUARY 14, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: 3 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRAFFICKING MORE THAN 551 POUNDS OF HEROIN
A Vietnam court sentenced three men to death for illegally trafficking more than 551 pounds of heroin
- JANUARY 1, 2014VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Vietnam reduced the number of death penalty crimes from 44 to 29 in 1999.
Vietnam reduced the number of death penalty crimes from 44 to 29 in 1999.
DECEMBER 16, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: PRISONER EXECUTED BY LETHAL INJECTION FOR FIRST TIME IN HCMC
For the very first time, a prisoner in Ho Chi Minh City was executed by lethal injection.
- DECEMBER 13, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: 5 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
A court in central Vietnam sentenced five people, including four women, to death and another
- NOVEMBER 15, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR EMBEZZLEMENT
A Vietnamese court sentenced two business executives to death for their roles in a scandal that caused
NOVEMBER 8, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM MULLS RESUMPTION OF FIRING SQUADS
Vietnam is mulling the resumption of execution by firing squad because of problems getting
- OCTOBER 25, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTY
a Nigerian has been sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Vietnam
a Nigerian has been sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Vietnam
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: THREE DRUG TRAFFICKERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
The Ho Chi Minh City City People's Court sentenced three members of a drug trafficking ring to death.
- AUGUST 22, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTY
an appeals court in central Vietnam upheld a death sentence
an appeals court in central Vietnam upheld a death sentence
- AUGUST 21, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTY
a Thai drug smuggler has been sentenced to death in Vietnam
a Thai drug smuggler has been sentenced to death in Vietnam
- AUGUST 19, 2013NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
a Ho Chi Minh City court sentenced a Nigerian man to death
a Ho Chi Minh City court sentenced a Nigerian man to death
- AUGUST 9, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTY
the UN’s Human Rights Office voiced concern about Vietnam resuming executions after a
the UN’s Human Rights Office voiced concern about Vietnam resuming executions after a
AUGUST 6, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM EXECUTES FIRST PRISONER WITH LETHAL INJECTION
A 27-year-old man convicted of murder and robbery has become the first death-row prisoner to be executed with the lethal injection in Vietnam.
JULY 24, 2013ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINESE WOMAN GETS DEATH FOR TRYING TO SMUGGLE HEROIN OUT OF VIETNAM
A Chinese woman was sentenced to death in Hanoi for trying to smuggle nearly four
- JULY 16, 2013VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: 5 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG DEALING, ADDING TO DEATH ROW WHILE EXECUTIONS DELAYED
A Vietnamese court has sentenced five people to death for dealing heroin, lengthening the