The death penalty for drug offences
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International law restricts the death penalty, where it still exists, to the most serious crimes, and United Nations bodies have made clear more than once that drug offences do not belong to that category. Despite this, some states go on sentencing people to death and executing them for trafficking or possession of narcotics: in certain years these executions are a substantial share of the world total.
This page collects the news on death sentences and executions for drug offences.
Latest news
- AUGUST 6, 2004IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
Indonesia said it would continue to carry out the death...
Indonesia said it would continue to carry out the death penalty against convicted drugs traffickers despite international protests over the execution of an Indian heroin smuggler earlier in the week
- AUGUST 6, 2004ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Indonesia said it would continue to carry out the death...
Indonesia said it would continue to carry out the death penalty against convicted drugs traffickers despite international protests over the execution of an Indian heroin smuggler earlier in the week
- JULY 26, 2004AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australian national Nguyen Tuong Van made a brief appearance...
Australian national Nguyen Tuong Van made a brief appearance in a Singapore court as his lawyer appealed against a mandatory death sentence handed to him for trafficking in heroin
- JULY 26, 2004SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
Australian national Nguyen Tuong Van made a brief appearance...
Australian national Nguyen Tuong Van made a brief appearance in a Singapore court as his lawyer appealed against a mandatory death sentence handed to him for trafficking in heroin
- JULY 26, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Three drug traffickers were sentenced to death in Vietnam,...
Three drug traffickers were sentenced to death in Vietnam, while 19 other members of the same gang were handed jail terms ranging from four years to life imprisonment
- JULY 17, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, China, handed...
Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, China, handed Zhu Zhiwei the death sentence with a two-year reprieve for smuggling heroin to Canada via Hong Kong
- JULY 14, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Yang Fengrui, deputy secretary-general of the National...
Yang Fengrui, deputy secretary-general of the National Narcotics Control Commission, defended China's frequent use of the death penalty against drug traffickers amid stepped-up efforts to control growing narcotics use
- JULY 13, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Indian embassy asked Indonesian authorities to...
The Indian embassy asked Indonesian authorities to spare the life of Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey, an Indian national who was facing a firing squad for drug trafficking
- JULY 13, 2004IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
The Indian embassy asked Indonesian authorities to...
The Indian embassy asked Indonesian authorities to spare the life of Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey, an Indian national who was facing a firing squad for drug trafficking
- JULY 9, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China executed its first HIV-positive criminal, Ai...
China executed its first HIV-positive criminal, Ai Haiti, a 29-year-old drug addict arrested in 2003 with 382 grams of heroin
- JULY 8, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Purna Maya Shrestha claimed that her Nepali, Ishowri...
Purna Maya Shrestha claimed that her Nepali, Ishowri Shrestha, who was facing a death sentence in China, was innocent
- JULY 8, 2004NepalDEATH PENALTY
Purna Maya Shrestha claimed that her Nepali, Ishowri...
Purna Maya Shrestha claimed that her Nepali, Ishowri Shrestha, who was facing a death sentence in China, was innocent
- JULY 8, 2004IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri rejected...
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri rejected appeals for clemency made by seven drug traffickers who had been sentenced to death
- JULY 8, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri rejected...
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri rejected appeals for clemency made by seven drug traffickers who had been sentenced to death
- JULY 7, 2004KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Indonesian prosecutors sought the death sentence for...
Indonesian prosecutors sought the death sentence for a Kenyan man charged with attempting to smuggle more than one kilogram of heroin into the country
- JULY 7, 2004IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
Indonesian prosecutors sought the death sentence for...
Indonesian prosecutors sought the death sentence for a Kenyan man charged with attempting to smuggle more than one kilogram of heroin into the country
- JUNE 26, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Some 17 drug traffickers were executed in China's southwestern...
Some 17 drug traffickers were executed in China's southwestern Chongqing and eastern Shanghai municipalities to mark International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
- JUNE 25, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Dozens of drug dealers were sentenced to death in a...
Dozens of drug dealers were sentenced to death in a series of drug-related criminal cases across China as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking drew near
- JUNE 25, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International urged Indonesia to commute the...
Amnesty International urged Indonesia to commute the death sentence passed on an Indian who, the government hoped, would be the first drug trafficker executed in the country in recent years
- JUNE 25, 2004IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International urged Indonesia to commute the...
Amnesty International urged Indonesia to commute the death sentence passed on an Indian who, the government hoped, would be the first drug trafficker executed in the country in recent years
- JUNE 24, 2004IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
The Indonesian Attorney General's Office announced...
The Indonesian Attorney General's Office announced it was making preparations for the execution of convicted Indian drug dealer Ayodhya Prasadh Chaubey following the Supreme Court's rejection of his second request for a review
- JUNE 24, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Indonesian Attorney General's Office announced...
The Indonesian Attorney General's Office announced it was making preparations for the execution of convicted Indian drug dealer Ayodhya Prasadh Chaubey following the Supreme Court's rejection of his second request for a review
- JUNE 24, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three drug traffickers were executed in Wuhan, capital...
Three drug traffickers were executed in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province
- JUNE 21, 2004SenegalDEATH PENALTY
Indonesian prosecutor asked judges to pass a death...
Indonesian prosecutor asked judges to pass a death sentence on Seck Osmane, a Senegalese accused of heroin trafficking
- JUNE 21, 2004IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
Indonesian prosecutor asked judges to pass a death...
Indonesian prosecutor asked judges to pass a death sentence on Seck Osmane, a Senegalese accused of heroin trafficking
- JUNE 18, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Six people convicted of trafficking heroin and ecstasy...
Six people convicted of trafficking heroin and ecstasy into Vietnam from Cambodia were sentenced to death by the People's court of Tay Ninh in southern Vietnam
- JUNE 2, 2004GhanaDEATH PENALTY
Ghanaian national Martin Anderson, alias Belo, was...
Ghanaian national Martin Anderson, alias Belo, was sentenced to death by the South Jakarta district court, Indonesia, for trying to sell 50 grams (1
- JUNE 2, 2004IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
Ghanaian national Martin Anderson, alias Belo, was...
Ghanaian national Martin Anderson, alias Belo, was sentenced to death by the South Jakarta district court, Indonesia, for trying to sell 50 grams (1
- MAY 28, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A group of 12 convicted drug traffickers was sentenced...
A group of 12 convicted drug traffickers was sentenced to death by a court in central China, for the buying and selling of heroin
- MAY 25, 2004MalawiDEATH PENALTY
Malawi national Adam Wilson was sentenced by the district...
Malawi national Adam Wilson was sentenced by the district court in Tangerang, Indonesia, after he was found guilty of smuggling heroin