Executions
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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
- APRIL 27, 2017ArkansasDEATH PENALTY
USA - Arkansas. Kenneth Williams was executed with a lethal injection that left the prisoner convulsing 20 times before he died.
USA - Arkansas. Kenneth Williams was executed with a lethal injection that left the prisoner convulsing 20 times before he died.
APRIL 25, 2017PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: FOUR TTP TERRORISTS SENTENCED BY MILITARY COURTS HANGED
Four terrorists, who were involved in committing heinous offences relating to terrorism were executed at a jail in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to an ISPR press release.
- APRIL 24, 2017IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN TRIES TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY FOR TRAFFICKING AS IT WRESTLES WITH RISING DRUG CHARGES
Iranian parliament’s Judicial Commission spokesperson has announced that this commission has agreed with a proposal to reduce death penalty to 30 years in prison for a number of drug-related offences.
- APRIL 24, 2017ArkansasDEATH PENALTY
USA - Arkansas. Two inmates received lethal injections about three hours apart. The second was Marcel Williams
USA - Arkansas. Two inmates received lethal injections about three hours apart. The second was Marcel Williams
APRIL 24, 2017SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: FOUR MILITANTS EXECUTED BY FIRING SQUAD IN BAIDOA CITY
Somali military court executed four suspects linked to Al- Shabaab for carrying out blasts in the town of Baidoa, the administrative capital of Southwest last year.
- APRIL 24, 2017ArkansasDEATH PENALTY
USA - Arkansas. Two inmates received lethal injections Monday night about three hours apart. The first was Jack Jones
USA - Arkansas. Two inmates received lethal injections Monday night about three hours apart. The first was Jack Jones
APRIL 24, 2017DEATH PENALTYARKANSAS (USA): JACK JONES EXECUTED
Two inmates received lethal injections on the same gurney Monday night about three hours apart. The first was Jack Jones, 52, White.
APRIL 24, 2017DEATH PENALTYARKANSAS (USA): MARCEL WILLIAMS EXECUTED
Two inmates received lethal injections on the same gurney Monday night about three hours apart. The second was Marcel Williams, 46, Black.
APRIL 22, 2017SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: MILITARY COURT EXECUTES POLICE OFFICER FOR KILLING CIVILIAN
Somali Military Court executed a police officer in Mogadishu for killing a civilian last year, Somaliupdate reports.
APRIL 22, 2017ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN EXECUTED FOR KILLING TWO YOUNG WOMEN, RAPING CORPSE
China’s Supreme People's Court (SPC) announced that a criminal convicted intentional homicide had been executed after the SPC approved the death sentence.
APRIL 21, 2017SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: MAN HANGED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Mohd Jeefrey bin Ismail was hanged in the early hours, at least according to the scheduled execution date given to his family by the Singapore Prison Service.
- APRIL 20, 2017ArkansasDEATH PENALTY
USA - Arkansas. Ledell Lee was Executed
USA - Arkansas. Ledell Lee was Executed
APRIL 20, 2017DEATH PENALTYARKANSAS (USA): LEDELL LEE WAS EXECUTED, THE FIRST IN THE STATE SINCE 2005
Arkansas overcame a flurry of court challenges Thursday that derailed three other executions, putting to death an inmate for the first time in nearly a dozen years as part of a plan that would have been the country's most ambitious since the death penalty
- APRIL 19, 2017IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: SEVEN PRISONERS EXECUTED AT RAJAI SHAHR PRISON
- APRIL 18, 2017IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: THREE PRISONERS HANGED IN SHIRAZ AND TABRIZ
Three inmates were executed in the prisons of Shiraz and Tabriz.
APRIL 13, 2017IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: MAN WHO KILLED SIX IN SHOOTING SPREE PUBLICLY HANGED IN ARAK
A man convicted of murdering six people in a shooting spree was publicly executed in Iran, according to the Tasnim news agency.
APRIL 13, 2017BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: MUFTI HANNAN, 2 OTHERS HANGED
The government hanged radical Islamist leader Mufti Mohammad Abdul Hannan, for his role in kick-starting militancy on Bangladesh’s soil.
APRIL 12, 2017IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: PRISONER WITH MENTAL ILLNESS EXECUTED ON MURDER CHARGES
A prisoner who reportedly suffered from a mental illness was hanged at Tabriz Central Prison on murder charges.
- APRIL 11, 2017PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: TWO TERRORISTS HANGED IN SAHIWAL PRISON
Two terrorists were sent to the gallows in High Security Prison Sahiwal in the morning.
APRIL 9, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: THREE PEOPLE EXECUTED FOR HEROIN SMUGGLING
Saudi Arabia executed three Pakistani nationals convicted of smuggling heroin, bringing the number of executions in the kingdom to 26 this year.
- APRIL 8, 2017SyriaDEATH PENALTY
IS, “stoning a young man” in al-Mayadin
8 April 2017: the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the “Islamic State” organization stoned a young man to death in the main street of al-Mayadin
APRIL 8, 2017SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: PUNTLAND MILITARY COURT EXECUTES 5 SUSPECTS LINKED TO AL SHABAAB
A military court in Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland executed five alleged Al Shabaab members in the Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso, Garowe Online reports.
APRIL 6, 2017Palestinian TerritoriesDEATH PENALTYGAZA: THREE MEN HANGED FOR COLLABORATING WITH ISRAEL
Gaza’s Hamas rulers hanged three men they accused of collaborating with Israel following calls for revenge for the killing of one of their commanders last month, an AFP journalist reported.
APRIL 5, 2017IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN: INMATE EXECUTED AFTER SUFFERING HEART ATTACK
- APRIL 3, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - 21st-century executions disproportionately involve prisoners diagnosed with mental illness
USA - 21st-century executions disproportionately involve prisoners diagnosed with mental illness
APRIL 3, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: EXECUTIONS DISPROPORTIONATELY INVOLVE PRISONERS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS
A new study of the case records of the men and women executed in the United States between 2000 and 2015 has found that 21st-century executions disproportionately involve prisoners diagnosed with mental illness and who have experienced traumatic child abu
- MARCH 31, 2017OhioDEATH PENALTY
USA - Ohio. New report: More Ohio death row prisoners exonerated or removed than executed.
USA - Ohio. New report: More Ohio death row prisoners exonerated or removed than executed.
MARCH 31, 2017DEATH PENALTYMORE OHIO DEATH ROW PRISONERS EXONERATED OR REMOVED THAN EXECUTED
The 2016 volume of Attorney General Mike DeWine's "Capital Crimes Annual Report," released on Friday, said there have been 328 death sentences handed down in Ohio since 1981. Less than 20 % of those people have been put to death.
MARCH 30, 2017SudanDEATH PENALTYSUDAN: DARFUR CRIMES COURT SENTENCES TWO TO DEATH BY HANGING IN EL-GENEINA
Darfur Special Criminal Court sentenced two individuals to death by hanging on charges of killing armed robbery in West Darfur state capital, El-Geneina.
MARCH 30, 2017NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: THREE TO DIE BY HANGING FOR ROBBERY
An Ilorin High Court sentenced three persons to death by hanging for armed robbery and attempt to murder Prof. Abdullahi Onimisi of University of Ilorin.