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
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2000TajikistanDEATH PENALTY
Khudoydod Rasulov and Hasan Fayozov were found guilty...
Khudoydod Rasulov and Hasan Fayozov were found guilty of drug smuggling by the Leninobod regional court and sentenced to death
- SEPTEMBER 15, 2000IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Sago Gham Mrogan, an Indian man convicted of smuggling...
Sago Gham Mrogan, an Indian man convicted of smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia was beheaded, the Interior Ministry said
- AUGUST 28, 2000NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian man convicted of drug...
Saudi Arabia executed a Nigerian man convicted of drug smuggling
- AUGUST 10, 2000IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
A Tangerang District Court sentenced an Angolan national...
A Tangerang District Court sentenced an Angolan national to death for drug trafficking
- AUGUST 1, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
An Afghan man convicted of smuggling heroin was beheaded...
An Afghan man convicted of smuggling heroin was beheaded near Mecca
- JULY 31, 2000ThailandDEATH PENALTY
The Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced seven people to...
The Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced seven people to death in three separate drug trafficking cases
- JULY 28, 2000SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
Two convicted drug traffickers, Sow Siow Yin, a 33...
Two convicted drug traffickers, Sow Siow Yin, a 33 year old Malaysian woman, and Tan Chwee Heng, 39, were executed at Changi Prison
- JULY 26, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Pakistani man convicted of drug smuggling was executed...
A Pakistani man convicted of drug smuggling was executed in Dammam
- JULY 10, 2000PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed Mir Afzal Omar Shah, a Pakistani...
Saudi Arabia executed Mir Afzal Omar Shah, a Pakistani national, for drug smuggling
- JULY 3, 2000United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
David Anthony Chell, was found guilty at the Malaysian...
David Anthony Chell, was found guilty at the Malaysian High Court of smuggling 665 grams of heroin into the Asian country and subsequently sentenced to death by hanging
- JUNE 29, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A railway court in Shanghai sentenced Zhao Xianhui,...
A railway court in Shanghai sentenced Zhao Xianhui, a farmer from southwest China's Yunnan Province, to death with two years' probation
- JUNE 27, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shenyang Municipal Intermediate People's Court...
The Shenyang Municipal Intermediate People's Court decreed the death penalty on Liu Futian who sold 810 grams of heroin and made an illegal gain of 105,600 yuan
- JUNE 26, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai Nmber2 Intermediate Court executed the...
The Shanghai Nmber2 Intermediate Court executed the death penalty on two convicted drug traffickers: 36-year old Ma Fenghua and Ma Wenzhong who werefounf guilty of trafficking 5,250 grams of heroin
- JUNE 26, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China executed tens of drug traffickers in a synchronised...
China executed tens of drug traffickers in a synchronised operation to dramatise its seriousness about fighting drug-related crime and to mark the International Anti-Drug Day
- JUNE 26, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Chongqing Number One Intermediate People's Court sentenced...
Chongqing Number One Intermediate People's Court sentenced 24 alleged drug traffickers to death, the Chongqing Daily reported
- JUNE 23, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Seven drug traffickers were executed in Beijing for...
Seven drug traffickers were executed in Beijing for being involved in five drug trafficking cases between 1997 and 1999
- MAY 30, 2000PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed a Pakistani man, Zeinullah Khan...
Saudi Arabia executed a Pakistani man, Zeinullah Khan Arjoun Khan, for smuggling heroin into the kingdom
- MAY 22, 2000Sri LankaDEATH PENALTY
Sri Lanka's police narcotics bureau said it had seized...
Sri Lanka's police narcotics bureau said it had seized 38 kilograms (kg) of heroin, the largest ever haul in the country, considered a major transit point for international drug smugglers
- APRIL 26, 2000CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canada condemned Vietnam for executing Nguyen Thi Hiep,...
Canada condemned Vietnam for executing Nguyen Thi Hiep, a Vietnamese-born Canadian citizen convicted of drug trafficking, on April 24
- APRIL 24, 2000VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Nguyen Thi Hiep, a Canadian citizen of Vietnamese origin...
Nguyen Thi Hiep, a Canadian citizen of Vietnamese origin was executed in Hanoi, where she was arrested in 1996 for drug trafficking, a court spokesmen said
- MARCH 17, 2000ColombiaDEATH PENALTY
Police Director Rosso Jose Serrano said that kidnappings...
Police Director Rosso Jose Serrano said that kidnappings have displaced drug trafficking [as the main crime in Colombia] and he proposed the reconsideration of the adoption of life imprisonment and even the death penalty to punish this crime
- FEBRUARY 29, 2000PakistanDEATH PENALTY
A United Arab Emirates Criminal Court of First Instance...
A United Arab Emirates Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced a 30-year-old Pakistani [identified only as] S
- FEBRUARY 18, 2000UzbekistanDEATH PENALTY
Two Afghan citizens, Nurkhonboy U
Two Afghan citizens, Nurkhonboy U
- FEBRUARY 18, 2000AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Two Afghan citizens, Nurkhonboy U
Two Afghan citizens, Nurkhonboy U
- FEBRUARY 17, 2000IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
Two Nepalese nationals, Til Bahadur Bhandari, 24, and...
Two Nepalese nationals, Til Bahadur Bhandari, 24, and Bahadur Gurung, 32, were sentenced to death by the Tangerang District Court for drug trafficking
- JANUARY 28, 2000VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Ho Chi Minh City's People's Court sentenced to death...
Ho Chi Minh City's People's Court sentenced to death three narcotics traffickers, Tran Van Nghia, Nguyen Phuoc Duc and Nguyen Thanh Hai
- JANUARY 25, 2000IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
The Tangerang District Court sentenced two Nepalese...
The Tangerang District Court sentenced two Nepalese nationals Nar Bahadur Tamang, 59, and Bala Tamang, 30, to death for drug trafficking
- JANUARY 14, 2000SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
Lee Chin Seah, an unemployed 42-year-old Chinese man,...
Lee Chin Seah, an unemployed 42-year-old Chinese man, was sentenced to death by the High Court for drug trafficking
- JANUARY 1, 2000BruneiDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is mandatory for murder, unlawful...
The death penalty is mandatory for murder, unlawful possession of firearms and explosives, and drug trafficking (import and export of over 15g of morphine or heroin; possession of over 30g of morphine or heroin for the purpose of unauthorized trafficking
- JANUARY 1, 2000VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Vietnam's communist authorities impose the death penalty...
Vietnam's communist authorities impose the death penalty for a total of 29 different offences, including a string of economic crimes as well as murder, treason, drug trafficking, sexual offences against children and serious cases of armed robbery