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Capital punishment in Kuwait is legal. Hanging is the method of choice for civilian executions. However, shooting is a legal form of execution in certain circumstances.
The following crimes may be punished with death under Kuwaiti civilian law: premeditated murder, terrorism giving in death (mandatory), perjury resulting in an innocent execution, destroying buildings belonging to the government or those known to be inhabited, rape, kidnapping, drug trafficking, and espionage.
Under the Kuwaiti Military Code, the following military offences may be punished with death: revealing classified information, cowardice, desertion, collaborationism, rebellion, insubordination, and interfering with action in the line of defence. As well as this, enemy soldiers can be executed if they commit war crimes or spy on the Kuwaiti military or government.
The following offenders shall not be subject to capital punishment if found guilty of a capital offence:
These offenders will have their sentences reduced to life imprisonment. Mentally ill persons are excluded from this list because they cannot be held responsible for criminal charges under Kuwaiti law in any instance.
After a person is sentenced to death in a Kuwaiti court, their case is automatically reviewed by the appellate court, of whom take into consideration the crime, evidence reviewed by the court, the previous convictions of defendant and other factors. If the court of appeal rejects this appeal, then they go to the court of cassation (Supreme Court) of which is the highest governing legal body in the country. Once it has been reviewed, the Emir of Kuwait must approve of the sentence. Once this occurs, an execution order is issued by the Chief Justice, specifying the date, time, place and method (usually hanging) of the execution, of which is given to the prosecutor.
Kuwait was a British protectorate and it became independent in 1961.
Since 2002, executions have occurred at Nayef Palace. Prisoners are held in solitary confinement until the day of their execution, where they are transported to the execution ground. At about 08:00, prisoners are hooded with a black hood, unlike the British style white hood and their arms and legs are pinioned (strapped). New steel gallows were fitted in the early 2000s and have been used for executions since then. A noose is put around their neck with the knot below the ear and the trapdoor is opened. They are given measured drops in order to break their necks, a development of the method practised in the United Kingdom. The press and public are allowed to view the bodies after the execution. The press have been reported to publish images of the dead bodies in newspapers to serve as a deterrent against crime.
Some prisoners are executed in public. For example, in 2013 Egyptian national also known as Hawally monster, was hanged in public. [1] [2] Some other people, including a Royal family member were also executed in public. [3] In 2023, the person behind the 2015 Kuwait mosque attack was executed by hanging. He was hanged alongside a group of other criminals. [4]
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned practice of killing a person as a punishment for a crime, usually following an authorised, rule-governed process to conclude that the person is responsible for violating norms that warrant said punishment. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is condemned and is commonly referred to as being "on death row". Etymologically, the term capital refers to execution by beheading, but executions are carried out by many methods, including hanging, shooting, lethal injection, stoning, electrocution, and gassing.
Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature. Hanging has been a common method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and is the primary execution method in numerous countries and regions. The first known account of execution by hanging is in Homer's Odyssey. Hanging is also a method of suicide.
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the formation of the UK, having been used within the British Isles from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964; capital punishment for murder was suspended in 1965 and finally abolished in 1969. Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as treason until it was completely abolished in 1998; the last execution for treason took place in 1946. In 2004 the 13th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights became binding on the United Kingdom; it prohibits the restoration of the death penalty as long as the UK is a party to the convention.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Ohio, although all executions have been suspended indefinitely by Governor Mike DeWine until a replacement for lethal injection is chosen by the Ohio General Assembly. The last execution in the state was in July 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was executed via lethal injection for murder.
Capital punishment in Canada dates back to Canada's earliest history, including its period as a French colony and, after 1763, its time as a British colony. From 1867 to the elimination of the death penalty for murder on July 26, 1976, 1,481 people had been sentenced to death, and 710 had been executed. Of those executed, 697 were men and 13 were women. The only method used in Canada for capital punishment of civilians after the end of the French regime was hanging. The last execution in Canada was the double hanging of Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin on December 11, 1962, at Toronto's Don Jail. The military prescribed firing squad as the method of execution until 1999, although no military executions had been carried out since 1946.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in China. It is commonly applied for murder and drug trafficking, and is a legal penalty for other offenses. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting. In a survey conducted by the New York Times in 2014, it was found the death penalty retained widespread support in Chinese society.
Capital punishment in India is a legal penalty for some crimes under the country's main substantive penal legislation, the Indian Penal Code, as well as other laws. Executions are carried out by hanging as the primary method of execution as given under Section 354(5) of the Criminal Code of Procedure, 1973 is "Hanging by the neck until dead", and is awarded only in the 'rarest of cases'.
The use of capital punishment by the United States military is a legal punishment in martial criminal justice. Despite its legality, capital punishment has not been imposed by the U.S. military in over sixty years.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Japan. In practice, it is applied only for aggravated murder, but the current Penal Code and several laws list 14 capital crimes, including conspiracy to commit civil war; conspiracy with a foreign power to provoke war against Japan; murder; obstruction of the operation of railroads, ships, or airplanes resulting in the death of the victim; poisoning of the water supply resulting in the death of the victim; intentional flooding; use of a bomb; and arson of a dwelling. Executions are carried out by long drop hanging, and take place at one of the seven execution chambers located in major cities across the country.
Capital punishment is a legal punishment in Iran. Crimes punishable by death include murder; rape; child molestation; homosexuality; pedophilia; drug trafficking; armed robbery; kidnapping; terrorism; burglary; incestuous relationships; fornication; prohibited sexual relations; sodomy; sexual misconduct; prostitution; plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime; political dissidence; sabotage; arson; rebellion; apostasy; adultery; blasphemy; extortion; counterfeiting; smuggling; speculating; disrupting production; recidivist consumption of alcohol; producing or preparing food, drink, cosmetics, or sanitary items that lead to death when consumed or used; producing and publishing pornography; using pornographic materials to solicit sex; recidivist false accusation of capital sexual offenses causing execution of an innocent person; recidivist theft; certain military offenses ; "waging war against God"; "spreading corruption on Earth"; espionage; and treason. Iran carried out at least 977 executions in 2015, at least 567 executions in 2016, and at least 507 executions in 2017. In 2018 there were at least 249 executions, at least 273 in 2019, at least 246 in 2020, at least 290 in 2021, at least 553 in 2022, and at least 309 so far in 2023.
Capital punishment in Iraq is a legal penalty. It was commonly used by the government of Saddam Hussein, was temporarily halted after the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq that deposed Saddam, and has since been reinstated. Executions are carried out by hanging.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Pakistan. Although there have been numerous amendments to the Constitution, there is yet to be a provision prohibiting the death penalty as a punitive remedy.
Capital punishment in Australia was a form of punishment in Australia that has been abolished in all jurisdictions. Queensland abolished the death penalty in 1922. Tasmania did the same in 1968. The Commonwealth abolished the death penalty in 1973, with application also in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Victoria did so in 1975, South Australia in 1976, and Western Australia in 1984. New South Wales abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955, and for all crimes in 1985. In 2010, the Commonwealth Parliament passed legislation prohibiting the re-establishment of capital punishment by any state or territory. Australian law prohibits the extradition or deportation of a prisoner to another jurisdiction if they could be sentenced to death for any crime.
Capital punishment in Malaysia is a legal penalty in Malaysian law.
Capital punishment was abolished in Turkey in 2004, and no prisoners have been executed since October 1984. Before, the capital punishment was executed over 500 times. The method of execution was hanging.
Capital punishment is legal in Tonga, but has not been imposed since 1982. The country's lack of executions puts it into the category of abolitionist in practice, where it retains the death penalty in law but has had a formal or informal moratorium for at least ten years. Tonga's low rate of murder convictions form part of the reason for the lack of executions, as well as its courts’ apparent unwillingness to impose the penalty unless it appears absolutely necessary to do so.
Capital punishment in Afghanistan is legal and could be carried out secretly or publicly. The convict could be hanged or shot to death. Stoning, amputation, and flogging were also sometimes used as a method for punishment, especially during the late 1990s. Public executions have existed throughout Afghanistan's history. They have continued with the Taliban returning to power in August 2021. Some executions were recently condemned by the United Nations. The capital offenses generally include heinous crimes such as mass murders and are governed by Sharia, along with civil laws.
Capital punishment in Montenegro was first prescribed by law in 1798. It was abolished on 19 June 2002. The last execution, by shooting, took place on 29 January 1981, and the two last death sentences were pronounced on 11 October 2001. Montenegro is bound by the following international conventions prohibiting capital punishment : Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as Protocols No. 6 and No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights. According to Art. 26 of the Montenegrin Constitution (2007): „In Montenegro, capital punishment is forbidden”.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Jordan. The country had a moratorium on capital punishment between 2006 and 2014. In late 2014 the moratorium was lifted and 11 persons were executed. Two more executions followed in 2015, 15 executions took place in 2017 and one in 2021.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Nigeria.
