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
- APRIL 23, 2005Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA. THE FAMILY OF A SOMALI MAN WHO WAS EXECUTED BY SAUDI ARABIA WANTS HIS BODY - AND ANSWERS
the last time Ali Hassan Ibrahim saw his son Abdul Fattah was in 1999, when the Somali teenager left a refugee camp in Kenya to join the legions of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia.
APRIL 21, 2005AfghanistanDEATH PENALTYAFGHANISTAN. WOMAN STONED TO DEATH FOR ADULTERY
an Afghan woman was stoned to death for adultery, police said, the first such incident in Afghanistan since the Taliban's ouster from power.
APRIL 21, 2005IndianaDEATH PENALTYINDIANA. EXECUTED FOR RAPE AND MURDER
the state of Indiana executed a man convicted of killing a teenage girl by forcing instant glue up her nose and taping her mouth shut after 12 days of rape and torture.
- APRIL 20, 2005TexasDEATH PENALTY
Douglas Roberts, 42, was executed for abducting and fatally stabbing Jerry Velez
Douglas Roberts, 42, was executed for abducting and fatally stabbing Jerry Velez
APRIL 20, 2005IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. HANGED FOR MURDER
an Iranian convicted of murdering a soldier during an armed robbery has been hanged in Saravan, in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, Jam-e-Jam daily reported.
- APRIL 18, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. NEWSPAPER DELIVERYMAN ASKS TO DIE SOON FOR GIRL'S MURDER
Kaoru Kobayashi, a Japanese newspaper deliveryman and serial paedophile, asked for the death penalty and voiced no remorse for drowning a young girl whose dead body he photographed for her mother to see.
- APRIL 17, 2005Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA. MAN BEHEADED FOR KILLING TWO INDIANS, PAKISTANI
Saudi Arabia executed Abdul-Rahman bin Sultan al-Otaibi
- APRIL 17, 2005UzbekistanDEATH PENALTY
UZBEKISTAN. OPPOSITION ACTIVIST EXECUTED IN SECRET, UN MAKES INQUIRIES
the United Nations human rights committee addressed Uzbekistan's government in order to receive clarifications regarding the case of Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhayev, an Uzbeki who was secretly executed on March 1.
- APRIL 16, 2005IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN HANGED IN PUBLIC FOR RAPE, MINOR REPRIEVED
Mousa Ali Mohammadik, an Iranian convicted of raping and abducting more than 40 schoolgirls, was hanged in public but his accomplice teenage son was reprieved.
- APRIL 15, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE. GOVERNMENT DENIES AMNESTY ACTIVIST CHANCE TO SPEAK AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
Singapore refused to allow an official from Amnesty International to speak at a forum on the death penalty.
- APRIL 15, 2005South CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
Richard Longworth, 36, was executed.
Richard Longworth, 36, was executed.
- APRIL 14, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. LETHAL INJECTION EXECUTION 'CRUEL', RESEARCHERS
American researchers have called for a halt to lethal injection, the most common method of execution in the United States, because it is not always a humane and painless way to die.
APRIL 14, 2005IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. MAN PUBLICLY HANGED FOR ROBBING BANK
Iran publicly hanged Ghobad Siah-Mansour, a serial bank robber who killed a policeman during a clash with security forces.
- APRIL 13, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Muhammad Rafiq, 27, was hanged in new Central Jail in Multan, Pakistan, for the murder of an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the police force.
Muhammad Rafiq, 27, was hanged in new Central Jail in Multan, Pakistan, for the murder of an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the police force.
- APRIL 13, 2005IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, known as Raoof, was executed in Alivaz, Iran.
a man, known as Raoof, was executed in Alivaz, Iran.
APRIL 11, 2005BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH. SIX PERSONS SENTENCED TO DEATH
six people were sentenced to death in Bangladesh, in three separate cases. Four men were sentenced to death in Dhaka for the murder of police officer Mizanur Rahman in January 2004.
- APRIL 10, 2005Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudis execute six men without sentence
Abshir Hassan, a 29 year old London man, accused Saudi Arabia of executing his brother, Abdul Fattah, and five other Somalis on April 1 without ever telling them that they had been condemned to death.
APRIL 9, 2005IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN. POLITICAL PRISONER FACING IMMINENT EXECUTION
Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence against Hojjat Zamani, a longtime political prisoner in Iran, making his execution imminent. Zamani, 29 years old, had been imprisoned in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran since the year 2000 for being a m
- APRIL 8, 2005Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA. SAUDANESE NATIONAL BEHEADED FOR HASHISH SMUGGLING
a Sudanese man was beheaded in public after being convicted of trying to smuggle hashish into Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry said.
- APRIL 8, 2005SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
according to Mr Shanmugam Murugesu...
according to Mr Shanmugam Murugesu...
- APRIL 7, 2005IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA. COUNTRY CONSIDERING CARRYING OUT EXECUTIONS BY INJECTION
Indonesia was considering using lethal injection as a means of carrying out the death sentence instead of the current practice of shooting by firing squad, the country's attorney general said. Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said he would meet with th
- APRIL 6, 2005GuatemalaDEATH PENALTY
GUATEMALA. DEATH PENALTY UNDER REVIEW
it was reported that Guatemala, one of the last Latin American nations with capital punishment, was considering doing away with it.
- APRIL 6, 2005IranDEATH PENALTY
Sohrab Mohammad and Ahmad B. were publicy hanged in Iran for murder.
Sohrab Mohammad and Ahmad B. were publicy hanged in Iran for murder.
- APRIL 5, 2005FloridaDEATH PENALTY
Glen Ocha was executed in Florida State Prison near Starke
Glen Ocha was executed in Florida State Prison near Starke
- APRIL 5, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. COUNTRY EXECUTES NINE TIMES MORE PEOPLE THAN REST OF WORLD, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
China accounted for about 90 percent of the 3,797 legally sanctioned executions in 25 countries across the world in 2004, the human rights group Amnesty International said, warning that most of those executed did not have fair trials.
- APRIL 5, 2005IranDEATH PENALTY
a man, Rezayi Hasan, 37, was executed in Saveh, Iran.
a man, Rezayi Hasan, 37, was executed in Saveh, Iran.
APRIL 4, 2005Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA. SIX SOMALI NATIONALS EXECUTED
Saudi Arabia executed a gang of six Somali men convicted of abducting and robbing taxi drivers in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. The six men had lured taxi drivers to a remote spot where they hit them and threatened them with knives before robbing them and t
MARCH 31, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. TOP GUANGZHOU HOSPITAL DOES ROARING TRADE IN EXECUTED PRISONER ORGANS, EDITORIAL
it was reported that the No. 1 and No. 3 Hospitals affiliated to the prestigious Sun Yat-sen University in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou was carrying out a lucrative trade in liver transplants using organs harvested from executed convicts.
- MARCH 30, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. CONVICTED MURDERER PREFERS EXECUTION TO ROTTING IN JAIL
terrorised by the idea of staying behind bars for the rest of his life, Sergei Deineko, a Russian man convicted of six brutal murders turned to the Supreme Court with the unique appeal to cancel the pardon which replaced his death penalty with a life term
- MARCH 29, 2005IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA. DEATH PENALTY FOR CORRUPTION CONVICTS, ATTORNEY GENERAL
Indonesia’s Attorney General Abdurrahman Saleh said he supported the idea of the death penalty for corruption, but added that certain legal obstacles would have to be removed before such a step could be taken.