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
- JANUARY 21, 2004North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
Starving North Koreans have been publicly executed...
Starving North Koreans have been publicly executed for stealing food and others have died of malnutrition in labour camps, Amnesty International said in a report
- JANUARY 21, 2004TexasDEATH PENALTY
Kevin Lee Zimmerman, 42, was executed today for the...
Kevin Lee Zimmerman, 42, was executed today for the 1987 robbery and murder of Leslie Gilbert Hooks Jr
- JANUARY 20, 2004KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Kuwaiti authorities publicly displayed the corpse of...
Kuwaiti authorities publicly displayed the corpse of Fazel Shirin Mohammad Sherif, 35, a Pakistani heroin trafficker who was hanged in front of the interior ministry in Kuwait City in the fourth execution of a drug dealer since the introduction in 1995 of
- JANUARY 20, 2004PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Kuwaiti authorities publicly displayed the corpse of...
Kuwaiti authorities publicly displayed the corpse of Fazel Shirin Mohammad Sherif, 35, a Pakistani heroin trafficker who was hanged in front of the interior ministry in Kuwait City in the fourth execution of a drug dealer since the introduction in 1995 of
- JANUARY 20, 2004PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
The Philippines' Supreme Court agreed to consider new...
The Philippines' Supreme Court agreed to consider new evidence that could prove the innocence of Roberto Lara and Roderick Licayan, two men on death row who were convicted of kidnapping and were scheduled for execution on January 30
- JANUARY 19, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The traditional upsurge in executions ahead of the...
The traditional upsurge in executions ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday gathered pace with 15 more people reported to have been put to death, bringing to at least 31 the number executed in a period of a week, AFP reported
- JANUARY 17, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The controversial German anatomist Gunther von Hagens...
The controversial German anatomist Gunther von Hagens used the corpses of executed Chinese prisoners to create his exhibitions of synthetically preserved human bodies, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported
- JANUARY 15, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The central Chinese province of Hebei has executed...
The central Chinese province of Hebei has executed 16 "serious criminals" for crimes including rape, murder and robbery, state media said
- JANUARY 15, 2004LebanonDEATH PENALTY
Lebanon was preparing to execute three convicted murderers...
Lebanon was preparing to execute three convicted murderers in the country's first imposition of the death penalty since 1998, a judicial source said, sparking protests from the European Union and human rights groups
- JANUARY 15, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Human rights campaigners in Kyrgyzstan called on Central...
Human rights campaigners in Kyrgyzstan called on Central Asian republics to stop deporting members of the Uighur Muslim minority to face possible execution in China
- JANUARY 14, 2004SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world...
Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world relative to its population, outstripping China, Saudi Arabia and Sierra Leone, Amnesty International said in a report
- JANUARY 14, 2004OhioDEATH PENALTY
Lewis Williams, 45, continued to profess his innocence...
Lewis Williams, 45, continued to profess his innocence and struggled as 4 guards carried him into the death chamber this morning
- JANUARY 14, 2004TexasDEATH PENALTY
In Huntsville, Kenneth Eugene Bruce was executed for...
In Huntsville, Kenneth Eugene Bruce was executed for the December 1990 shooting death of Helen Ayers, 54, after robbing her and her husband of some inexpensive jewelry and less than $10
- JANUARY 13, 2004OklahomaDEATH PENALTY
The state of Oklahoma executed Tyrone Peter Darks,...
The state of Oklahoma executed Tyrone Peter Darks, 39, who shot his wife to death nearly 10 years ago
- JANUARY 12, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The United National Liberation Front (UNLF) executed a deserter
The United National Liberation Front (UNLF) executed a deserter
- JANUARY 11, 2004IranDEATH PENALTY
Abdollah Deilami was hanged at Chaharshir Falakeh Square...
Abdollah Deilami was hanged at Chaharshir Falakeh Square in the city of Ahwaz, Iran, before hundreds of residents
- JANUARY 9, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three members of a mafia gang and four murderers were...
Three members of a mafia gang and four murderers were executed in two Chinese provinces, Chinese media reported
- JANUARY 9, 2004North CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
In Raleigh, a man was executed for the 1992 killing...
In Raleigh, a man was executed for the 1992 killing of a store clerk after failed appeals that focused on whether lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment
- JANUARY 7, 2004IranDEATH PENALTY
Iranian state-run newspapers reported that a prisoner...
Iranian state-run newspapers reported that a prisoner in Tehran's Qasr Prison, identified as Hamid Reza, was hanged at dawn
- JANUARY 6, 2004PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
The Philippines was due to execute its first convicts...
The Philippines was due to execute its first convicts in January since lifting a nearly four-year moratorium on the death penalty, Bureau of Corrections chief Dionisio Santiago said
- JANUARY 6, 2004ArkansasDEATH PENALTY
A mentally ill Arkansas man whose lawyers had argued...
A mentally ill Arkansas man whose lawyers had argued the state couldn't legally execute him was put to death
- JANUARY 6, 2004TexasDEATH PENALTY
Ynobe Matthews, described by authorities as a serial...
Ynobe Matthews, described by authorities as a serial rapist, was executed for raping and strangling a woman 3 1/2 years ago
- JANUARY 4, 2004IranDEATH PENALTY
Two drug traffickers were executed by hanging in the...
Two drug traffickers were executed by hanging in the north-eastern Iranian town of Ghonabad, the hardline Kayhan newspaper reported
- JANUARY 4, 2004IranDEATH PENALTY
Abbas Dalili was hanged in the prison courtyard in the city of Sari, in Iran
Abbas Dalili was hanged in the prison courtyard in the city of Sari, in Iran
- JANUARY 1, 2004IranDEATH PENALTY
Ali Abdollahi was hanged outside the Iranian State...
Ali Abdollahi was hanged outside the Iranian State Security Forces headquarters in the northern city of Tonekabon in front of 2,000 local residents
- DECEMBER 29, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
An ex-deputy police chief in southern Vietnam who shot...
An ex-deputy police chief in southern Vietnam who shot a Communist Party cadre with a machine gun during a meeting to punish him for being disorganised had been executed, officials said
- DECEMBER 29, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Spare [1997 military coup leader] Captain Solo and...
Spare [1997 military coup leader] Captain Solo and all those on the death row, [opposition] Patriotic Front president Michael Sata urged [Zambian] President [Levy] Mwanawasa
- DECEMBER 29, 2003AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
The Afghan ambassador to Australia strongly denied...
The Afghan ambassador to Australia strongly denied suggestions that asylum seekers sent home had been killed, and threatened legal action against those making such claims
- DECEMBER 29, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
The Afghan ambassador to Australia strongly denied...
The Afghan ambassador to Australia strongly denied suggestions that asylum seekers sent home had been killed, and threatened legal action against those making such claims
- DECEMBER 26, 2003NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
Chief Mike Ozekhome, a lawyer and human rights activist...
Chief Mike Ozekhome, a lawyer and human rights activist prominent in the pro-democracy struggle until the military left the political centre stage in 1999, joined the national debate on the retention of the death penalty in Nigeria