Executions
Archive theme
An execution is the act by which a state puts a condemned person to death. Hands Off Cain records the cases documented by public sources: press agencies, local newspapers, human rights organisations, official statements. The figure that results is a confirmed minimum, not an estimate of the real total: several states publish no data on executions, and in some countries they are not announced even to the families.
This page collects the news on the executions recorded by the association. The totals by country and by year are in the database.
Latest news
FEBRUARY 19, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Zahra Esmaili was already dead when executed
according to her lawyer
FEBRUARY 18, 2021United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - DPIC Adds Eleven Cases to Innocence List
185 death-row exoneration from 1973 to today
FEBRUARY 17, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 more men executed on February 17 at Rajai Shahr Prison
9 executions in one day at Rajai Shahr
- FEBRUARY 17, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 1 woman and 6 men executed in Rajai Shahr Prison on February 17
Only the woman identified: Zahra Esmaili
FEBRUARY 16, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Dadfari-Mazandarani executed on February 16 in Boroujerd Prison
For drug crimes
FEBRUARY 14, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Ali-Mohammadi executed at Nour Prison on February 14
He was charged with murder
FEBRUARY 13, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Bahavar Tanazi executed at Meshgin Shahr Prison on February 13
Sentenced for murder
FEBRUARY 13, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jamaluddin Brahui and Mohammad Barahui executed at Birjand prison on February 13
The two Baluchi prisoners were executed on drug related charges
FEBRUARY 13, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mansour Ghazagh executed on February 13 at Birjand Prison
For drug crimes
FEBRUARY 11, 2021SudanDEATH PENALTYSUDAN: KHARTOUM AUTHORITIES HANG SOUTH SUDANESE WOMAN
A 39-year-old South Sudanese woman in Khartoum was hanged on 9 February 2021 after being sentenced to death for killing her little sister in Sudan three years ago.
FEBRUARY 11, 2021AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Willie B. Smith won a reprieve from a scheduled lethal injection
the U.S. Supreme Court said the state could not proceed without his pastor in the death chamber
FEBRUARY 10, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: FIVE ‘TERRORISM’ CONVICTS HANGED
Iraq on 9 February 2021 hanged five people convicted on “terrorism” charges in a notorious southern prison, security sources said, despite an international outcry in recent months over the country’s execution record.
FEBRUARY 10, 2021NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: 40-YEAR-OLD MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER ARMED ROBBERY
Akwa Ibom State High Court on 8 February 2021 sentenced a 40-year-old man, Kufre Christopher Archibong, to death by hanging for armed robbery.
FEBRUARY 10, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED FOR TWO MENTALLY ILL CONVICTS
In a landmark ruling, Pakistan's top court on 10 February 2021 commuted the death sentences of two mentally ill prisoners who have spent decades on death row, the first such ruling in this conservative Muslim-majority nation.
FEBRUARY 9, 2021BotswanaDEATH PENALTYBOTSWANA: TWO MEN HANGED FOR MURDER
Botswana on 8 February 2021 hanged two men convicted of murder.
FEBRUARY 8, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Naderi and an unknows female executed in Ardabil Prison on February 8
The woman, 23, may have been a juvenile offender
FEBRUARY 8, 2021TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. Harris County DA Seeks to Vacate Sentence for Raymond Riles
Nation’s Longest-Serving Death-Row Prisoner
FEBRUARY 6, 2021ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: SERIAL KILLER AND RAPIST EXECUTED IN HEBEI
High-profile serial killer Wang Shujin, 53, was executed in Hebei province on 2 February 2021 after his death sentence for rape and intentional killing was approved by the Supreme People's Court.
FEBRUARY 4, 2021NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH BY HANGING FOR ARMED ROBBERY
An Abeokuta High Court on 3 February 2021 sentenced a 33-year-old man, Ibrahim Toyin, to death by hanging for robbing a woman of her handbag at gunpoint.
- FEBRUARY 4, 2021South CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
USA - South Carolina. State Supreme Court delays execution of Brad Sigmon
No lethal drugs
FEBRUARY 3, 2021ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN EXECUTED FOR ABDUCTING AND RAPING A 10-YEAR-OLD GIRL
The Qinzhou Intermediate People's Court in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on 2 February 2021 carried out the execution of Yang Guangyi, who raped a 10-year-old girl.
FEBRUARY 3, 2021United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Nearly 1 Million Dollar for Each Federal Execution
financial records recently obtained by the ACLU
FEBRUARY 2, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN Jabbar Nemati executed in Adelabad Prison on February 2
for murder
FEBRUARY 1, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehran Narouie executed in Isfahan prison on February 1
No information about his charges
FEBRUARY 1, 2021AustraliaDEATH PENALTYAUSTRALIA WON’T EXTRADITE S’PORE-BORN MURDER SUSPECT IF DEATH PENALTY AWAITS HIM
A man born in Singapore wanted in relation to a murder case nearly four decades ago is in jail in Australia, but the country’s Attorney-General’s Department has said he cannot be extradited if he faces the death penalty.
JANUARY 31, 2021ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FINANCE OFFICIAL EXECUTED IN BRIBERY CASE
The former head of a Chinese state-owned asset management company was executed on 29 January 2021 on charges of taking bribes in an unusually severe penalty for a recent corruption case.
JANUARY 30, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Javid Dehghan-Khold executed in Zahedan Central Prison on January 30
Baluch prisoner sentenced to death on political and security charges
JANUARY 28, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Motayyeri executed in Sheiban Prison, Ahvaz, on January 28.
He was charged with being an Isis terrorist
JANUARY 28, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Anvar Narouei executed in Isfahan’s Dastgerd Prison on January 28
He was a Baluch with drug-related charges
- JANUARY 27, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Abbas Ali Hosseini executed at Zanjan Prison on January 27
He was sentenced for murder