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
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2003North CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
Twice-convicted murderer Joseph Earl Bates was executed...
Twice-convicted murderer Joseph Earl Bates was executed today
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2003CubaDEATH PENALTY
The news agency Agencia Brasil web site reported that...
The news agency Agencia Brasil web site reported that Fidel Castro's government had announced an end to executions by firing squad in Cuba
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2003SudanDEATH PENALTY
Five men had their death sentence, followed by crucifixion,...
Five men had their death sentence, followed by crucifixion, carried out
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2003AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
Afghan national Nader Khan Bardel was executed by beheading...
Afghan national Nader Khan Bardel was executed by beheading in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah for an unspecified drug related crime
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Daher Shah Arab Khan, a Pakistani national, was beheaded...
Daher Shah Arab Khan, a Pakistani national, was beheaded by sword in the Saudi Arabia city of Jeddah, after admitting that "he smuggled a quantity of heroin into the kingdom," a statement issued by the Saudi Interior Ministry said
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2003PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Daher Shah Arab Khan, a Pakistani national, was beheaded...
Daher Shah Arab Khan, a Pakistani national, was beheaded by sword in the Saudi Arabia city of Jeddah, after admitting that "he smuggled a quantity of heroin into the kingdom," a statement issued by the Saudi Interior Ministry said
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2003SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
The Singaporean government revealed it had dramatically...
The Singaporean government revealed it had dramatically escalated the use of the death penalty in 2003 with the execution rate roughly triple that of the previous three years
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Farzad Jalali, a convicted rapist, was executed by...
Farzad Jalali, a convicted rapist, was executed by hanging in the south-western Iranian town of Khoramabad, the Kayhan newspaper reported
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama said she was still...
Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama said she was still convinced that the death penalty should be retained in Japan, days after she approved the third execution of a death row inmate while she was in office
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Yuan Gang, a convicted police killer, was put to death...
Yuan Gang, a convicted police killer, was put to death in eastern China's Zhejiang province immediately after the provincial high court issued the execution order, state press reported
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Shinji Mukai, a 42 year old Japanese man convicted...
Shinji Mukai, a 42 year old Japanese man convicted of murdering three people, including a mother and her child, was executed by hanging in what was Japan's first execution in a year
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Eight members of a gang specializing in highway robberies...
Eight members of a gang specializing in highway robberies were executed in central China's Henan province, state media said
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2003North CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
Henry Lee Hunt, 58, was pronounced dead at 2:17 a
Henry Lee Hunt, 58, was pronounced dead at 2:17 a
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2003TexasDEATH PENALTY
Larry Hayes, 54, was executed tonight for the 1999...
Larry Hayes, 54, was executed tonight for the 1999 murders of his wife and another woman
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Nasser Shiragha, the head of a convicted gang of armed...
Nasser Shiragha, the head of a convicted gang of armed robbers, was hanged in Tehran, the official Iran paper reported, adding that 11 other members of the group would also soon be executed
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Hui Jinbo and Li Junlin, two Chinese men who drowned...
Hui Jinbo and Li Junlin, two Chinese men who drowned seven people in bath tubs after robbing a Beijing bath house, were executed
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Huang Xiaojun and Li Meisheng were executed after taking...
Huang Xiaojun and Li Meisheng were executed after taking part in the ransacking of three tombs on land belonging to the Guo museum in central Henan province, according to the People's Court Daily
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2003FloridaDEATH PENALTY
Paul Jennings Hill died today by lethal injection in...
Paul Jennings Hill died today by lethal injection in the Florida State Prison
- AUGUST 23, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran hanged 10 drug smugglers and armed robbers in...
Iran hanged 10 drug smugglers and armed robbers in the southern province of Kerman, the conservative Jam-e Jam newspaper reported
- AUGUST 22, 2003North CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
William Quentin Jones, 34, was executed today
William Quentin Jones, 34, was executed today
- AUGUST 22, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mashari bin Omair al-Shahrani, a Saudi national, was...
Mashari bin Omair al-Shahrani, a Saudi national, was beheaded for stabbing his father to death inside a mosque
- AUGUST 21, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Three Iranian men were hanged in prison in Karaj, western...
Three Iranian men were hanged in prison in Karaj, western Tehran, for drug trafficking, a government-sponsored daily reported
- AUGUST 20, 2003AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
"The argument for capital punishment against terrorists...
"The argument for capital punishment against terrorists fails on three counts," said The Australian daily newspaper
- AUGUST 19, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
A statement from the Kerman province judiciary said...
A statement from the Kerman province judiciary said that "Mohammad-Zaman-Q
- AUGUST 17, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Jail authorities in the eastern Indian state of Orissa...
Jail authorities in the eastern Indian state of Orissa suspended their search for a hangman after the death sentence of Dayanidhi Bishnoi, 35, was commuted to life imprisonment
- AUGUST 13, 2003SudanDEATH PENALTY
Sudanese national Idriss bin Adam bin Ali was publicly...
Sudanese national Idriss bin Adam bin Ali was publicly executed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after being found guilty of smuggling hallucinogenic tablets into the kingdom
- AUGUST 10, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Indian Law Commission said that public opinion...
The Indian Law Commission said that public opinion on the mode of executing prisoners on death row favoured an amendment to the law, which stipulated hanging as the method of execution
- AUGUST 8, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Jiang Wei and Du Shaolin were executed after being...
Jiang Wei and Du Shaolin were executed after being sentenced to death by the Henan Provincial Higher People's Court
- AUGUST 7, 2003AlabamaDEATH PENALTY
Tommy Jerry Fortenberry died in silence in the death...
Tommy Jerry Fortenberry died in silence in the death chamber at Holman prison for the murders almost 19 years ago of 4 people shot down during a robbery
- AUGUST 7, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
"The new execution law will be effective from October...
"The new execution law will be effective from October 19, requiring lethal injection to replace the firing squad," Thai correction Department officials told AFP