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
- NOVEMBER 28, 2003SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt criminal...
Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt criminal executions after an Australian man appeared in court on charges of trafficking in heroin - a crime that carries a mandatory death sentence
- NOVEMBER 3, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Zhou Kun, a Chinese police officer given a national...
Zhou Kun, a Chinese police officer given a national award for huge drug busts, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by a central Chinese court after being convicted of trafficking 5,000 kilograms (11,000 pounds) of heroin
- OCTOBER 24, 2003IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
The Tangerang District Court, Indonesia, sentenced...
The Tangerang District Court, Indonesia, sentenced to death two Nigerian nationals and fined them Rp 500 million (US$58,823) for violating Article 82 of Law No
- OCTOBER 24, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
The Tangerang District Court, Indonesia, sentenced...
The Tangerang District Court, Indonesia, sentenced to death two Nigerian nationals and fined them Rp 500 million (US$58,823) for violating Article 82 of Law No
- OCTOBER 20, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Five men convicted of drug smuggling and murder were...
Five men convicted of drug smuggling and murder were publicly hanged in the southern Iranian city of Bam, the Jomhuri Eslami newspaper reported
- OCTOBER 17, 2003PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Alfjan Mohammad Akbar Khan, a Pakistani found guilty...
Alfjan Mohammad Akbar Khan, a Pakistani found guilty of drug trafficking, was beheaded by the sword in the town of Huta Bani Tamim, in the Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia
- OCTOBER 17, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Alfjan Mohammad Akbar Khan, a Pakistani found guilty...
Alfjan Mohammad Akbar Khan, a Pakistani found guilty of drug trafficking, was beheaded by the sword in the town of Huta Bani Tamim, in the Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia
- OCTOBER 7, 2003PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Khan Waley ben Sayed Mir Jan, a Pakistani national,...
Khan Waley ben Sayed Mir Jan, a Pakistani national, was beheaded by the sword in Saudi Arabia's city of Jeddah
- OCTOBER 7, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Khan Waley ben Sayed Mir Jan, a Pakistani national,...
Khan Waley ben Sayed Mir Jan, a Pakistani national, was beheaded by the sword in Saudi Arabia's city of Jeddah
- OCTOBER 7, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Lo Van Tuoi, a 39 year old man from Lai Chau province,...
Lo Van Tuoi, a 39 year old man from Lai Chau province, Vietnam, was sentenced to death for trafficking heroin from Laos and China
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2003SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
Singapore executed two convicted Malaysian heroin traffickers...
Singapore executed two convicted Malaysian heroin traffickers despite protests by human rights group Amnesty International
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2003MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
Singapore executed two convicted Malaysian heroin traffickers...
Singapore executed two convicted Malaysian heroin traffickers despite protests by human rights group Amnesty International
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2003SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
Singaporean national Yeo See Soon, charged with drug...
Singaporean national Yeo See Soon, charged with drug trafficking under Section 39(b) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, punishable with the death penalty, was overjoyed when High Court judge Datuk Arifin Jaka ruled that the charge be amended to one of posse
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Nguyen Thi Yen, a 41 year old woman convicted of drug...
Nguyen Thi Yen, a 41 year old woman convicted of drug trafficking, was sentenced to death in northern Vietnam
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Tran Kim Tuyen, who was convicted of drug trafficking,...
Tran Kim Tuyen, who was convicted of drug trafficking, was executed by firing squad in Vietnam's Tay Ninh province
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
The People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced four...
The People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced four drug traffickers to death as part of the government's long-running campaign to wipe out the narcotics trade, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
An Afghan and a Pakistani convicted of drug trafficking...
An Afghan and a Pakistani convicted of drug trafficking were beheaded in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, the Saudi interior ministry said
- AUGUST 29, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A court in Vietnam's southern Long An province sentenced...
A court in Vietnam's southern Long An province sentenced four men and a woman to death for running a drug-trafficking network that smuggled heroin and opium into the country from Cambodia
- AUGUST 29, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
A father and son were acquitted of heroin-trafficking...
A father and son were acquitted of heroin-trafficking charges, but the father's mistress and two accomplices in the same gang were sentenced to death
- AUGUST 26, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Two Pakistani men convicted of drug trafficking were...
Two Pakistani men convicted of drug trafficking were beheaded in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabian city
- AUGUST 26, 2003PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Two Pakistani men convicted of drug trafficking were...
Two Pakistani men convicted of drug trafficking were beheaded in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabian city
- AUGUST 22, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Duong Duc Son, Phung Mai Khoi, Chiem Van Beo, Le Tung...
Duong Duc Son, Phung Mai Khoi, Chiem Van Beo, Le Tung Lam and Vu Thi Tien, a woman, were sentenced to death by the Ha Tinh People's Court for running a drug-trafficking network that smuggled heroin and opium into the country from Laos
- AUGUST 21, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Three Iranian men were hanged in prison in Karaj, western...
Three Iranian men were hanged in prison in Karaj, western Tehran, for drug trafficking, a government-sponsored daily reported
- AUGUST 19, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
A statement from the Kerman province judiciary said...
A statement from the Kerman province judiciary said that "Mohammad-Zaman-Q
- AUGUST 10, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The Thai Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for...
The Thai Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for Fang Kee Tun, a 46 year old Singaporean convicted of possessing 1
- AUGUST 10, 2003SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
The Thai Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for...
The Thai Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for Fang Kee Tun, a 46 year old Singaporean convicted of possessing 1
- AUGUST 9, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Twenty-six convicted criminals were collectively sentenced...
Twenty-six convicted criminals were collectively sentenced to death in China's southern city of Guangzhou as part of a government effort to clear a back-log of cases awaiting verdict, state press reported
- JULY 17, 2003AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Le My Linh, an Australian woman condemned to death...
Le My Linh, an Australian woman condemned to death by a Vietnamese court in 2002 on drug trafficking charges, had her sentence commuted to life imprisonment
- JULY 9, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Four people on death-row in Vietnam, including Le My...
Four people on death-row in Vietnam, including Le My Linh, an Australian citizen of Vietnamese origin, had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment
- JULY 3, 2003PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said through...
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said through her spokesman that she agreed to the idea of executing convicted big-time drug traffickers in an effort to curb the drug problem in the country