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
JANUARY 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Reza Ghorbani executed in Karaj on January 28
JANUARY 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Aref and Asif Ishaqzahi executed in Birjand on January 28
JANUARY 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ruhollah Shakeri executed in Birjand on January 28
JANUARY 26, 2024AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Kenneth Smith's execution does not appear to have been peaceful
JANUARY 26, 2024AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Kenneth Smith’s execution by nitrogen hypoxia is ‘historic’ achievement
Said Steve Marshall, Attorney General
JANUARY 25, 2024GhanaDEATH PENALTYGHANA: SIX SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 2021 COUP PLOT
A Ghana court on January 24, 2024 sentenced six people to death by hanging, including three soldiers, for their involvement in an alleged plot three years ago to overthrow the country's government.
JANUARY 25, 2024AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Kenneth Smith executed on January 25
Using untested method of nitrogen gas
JANUARY 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 Kurdish prisoners of conscience at imminent risk of execution
Anvar Khezri, Kamran Sheikheh and Khosrow Besharat
JANUARY 24, 2024IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: THIRTEEN MEN EXECUTED IN NASIRIYAH PRISON
Thirteen men were executed in Nasiriyah prison on December 25, 2023, the first mass execution since 21 men were executed on November 16, 2020.
JANUARY 24, 2024AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - US Supreme Court declines to halt execution of Kenneth Smith
JANUARY 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on January 24
Fazel Shafiei, Morteza Nadimi + Unk. 63 executions in January
JANUARY 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoner Farhad Salimi executyed in Karaj on January 23
JANUARY 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Asgarat executed in Karaj on January 23
- JANUARY 23, 2024AlabamaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Alabama. Kenneth Smith’s lawyers ask U.S. Supreme Court whether state can try twice to execute him
JANUARY 23, 2024United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Dissent rises against looming ‘experimental’ execution of Kenneth Smith
JANUARY 22, 2024NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KIDNAPPING, KILLING CHIEF OGBOBULA IN RIVERS
A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on January 18, 2024 sentenced to death three men on charges of kidnapping and murder.
JANUARY 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Mohammad Ghobadloo executed in Karaj on January 22
JANUARY 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Massoud Rigi executed in Zahedan on January 22
JANUARY 22, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hossein Ali Shakurian and Naser Mavedat executed in Sabzevar on January 22
JANUARY 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Salman Salimi and Ahmad Haeri executed in Hamedan on January 21
JANUARY 21, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Moslem Aliyari executed in Shirvan on January 21
JANUARY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Isfahan on January 20
Nouri Zamani, Fathollah Jourkesh and Hosseinali Koutahi
JANUARY 20, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hasan Gergij executed in Zahedan on January 20
JANUARY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Eslahollah Bakhsh and Hamid Ebadinejad executed in Rasht on January 18
JANUARY 17, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: DECADE-HIGH SURGE IN EXECUTIONS
Singapore’s government carried out its highest number of executions in more than a decade and sought to intimidate anti-death penalty activists, Human Rights Watch said on January 11, 2024 in its World Report 2024.
JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalil Soleimani executed in Hamedan on January 17
- JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Eslam Aman Aldini executed in Qom on January 17
- JANUARY 17, 2024AlabamaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Alabama. Kenneth Smith could be the 1st person executed with nitrogen gas
He spoke with National Public Radio
JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Mashahdi executed in Mashhad on January 17
JANUARY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj on January 17
Bahman Fathollahzadeh, Imani Shabani, Keramat Jan Nazarkhani, + 1 unk.