Female executions 1990 to date

Female executions 1990 to date.

Women continue to suffer the death penalty in the 21st century. The majority have been hanged or beheaded, whilst others have been shot or given a lethal injection. Two have suffered electrocution in America and at least 4 have been stoned to death in Iran and Afghanistan.

2009 case details.
A'isha Al-Hamzi, a 40 year old Saudi born mother of seven, was executed by machine gun in a prison in Sana’a in the Yemen on Sunday the 19th of April for the murder of her husband in 2002. Her children had refused to pardon her, which they were entitled to do under Yemeni law.
Laila al-Shemmari was beheaded in the northwestern Saudi Arabian province of Hail on the 20th of April for the shooting murder of her husband Ghanim al-Sebei. She later burned his body with the help of her daughter Fawziya, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for her part in the crime.
On the 2nd of May Delara Darabi, aged 23, was hanged at Rasht Central Prison despite a two-month stay of execution in the case issued on the 19th of April 2009, by the head of the Judiciary. She had been convicted of the murder of her father's cousin in September 2003, at the age of 17, although it is thought that her boyfriend actually committed the crime and that she initially confessed to save him.
At dawn on Wednesday 6th of May Zeynab Nazarzadeh and three men were hanged in Tehran’s Evin Prison. 28 year old Zeynab was executed for the murder of her husband.
On Wednesday 13th of May a 30 year old woman named Azita was hanged with her male co-defendant Mohammad, were hanged for smuggling three kilograms of crack cocaine in a prison in Qazvin in Iran. One week later on the 20th of May a 29 year old woman, identified only as Afsaneh, and three men were hanged in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz according to the Etemaad newspaper. She had been convicted of murdering and then burning the body of her husband, with the help of her lover, in July 2006.

A woman was amongst 8 prisoners executed for drug trafficking in China on the 25th of June. Yan Chaomin aged 59 had previous convictions for drug offences and was executed by shooting in Sichuan province for having been caught with 200g of heroin on her person.

It is claimed that 33 year old mother of three, Ri Hyon Ok, was publicly executed in North Korea on the 16th of June for distributing copies of the bible and of spying for South Korea and the United States. There is no means of verifying this but it is probably true.

An unnamed woman was hanged in Iran’s Qazvin prison on the 15th of July for killing her father in law four years ago. She claimed the killing, which happened during a family dispute was unintentional but the victim’s family did not accept this and refused to pardon her.

44 year old beauty parlor owner Du Yimin was executed, probably by lethal injection, on Wednesday the 6th of August in Lishui City, Zhejiang province in China for a massive fraud which netted her over 700 million yuan ($102.5 million) which according to China's highest court had "seriously damaged the country's financial regulatory order and social stability," the official Xinhua News Agency said.

On the 6th of October, a man, Abdollah J. and two women, Khadijeh J. and Fouzieh J. convicted of drug trafficking were hanged in a prison in the south-western Iranian city of Ahvaz.

Iran hanged five convicted murderers in the capital's Evin prison on 20/10/2009, including 27 year old Soheila Ghadiri who had been convicted of killing and chopping up her five-day-old son in 2006.
Soheila ran away from home at 14 and had been arrested in the past for conducting illegal relationships it was reported. The trial court was told that she had been suffering from depression following the birth.

Saudi Arabia beheaded Halima Abdelkader, a Sri Lankan national, on the 4th of November for her part in the robbery/murder of her employer, Marriam Hussein in Jeddah. She had let two other assailants into the home.

On Monday 11th November Beygum P. was hanged in a prison in the central city of Esfahan for drug trafficking together with two men, Vahid Sh., Rasoul T.

2008 case details.
27 year old mother of two, Raheleh Zamani was hanged in Tehran’s Evin prison on Wednesday the 2nd of January. She had killed her husband Mohammad in 2005 by beating his head with an iron bar after discovering he was having an affair with another woman. She then chopped up the body and hid the pieces in several containers. Raheleh had been due to be hanged on December the 19th 2007 along with Zahra N (see below), but was given a last-minute stay of execution to allow her time to reach a “blood money” deal with her in-laws.

Saudi Arabia executed an Indonesian housemaid, Yanti Sukardi, on Saturday the 12th of January, in the south-western province of Asir. She had been found guilty of using a pillow to suffocate her employer, Aisha Al Makhaled and stealing her jewelry. It is probable that she was shot by a single executioner from behind, instead of beheaded.
In Mecca on Wednesday the 16th of January Saudi Arabia beheaded Nashat Haji and his 27 year old wife Iman Ghazawi, who had been convicted of torturing to death Khosoun, a nine-year-old girl, by burning her with a red-hot spoon and beating her with a metal pipe. Haji decided to "get rid of" his daughter after he became doubtful that he was her biological father from a previous marriage, however DNA tests showed a 99.9% probability that the child was in fact his.
Saudi’s third female beheading of 2008 took place in Mecca on the 29th of January when Nigerian born Tawa Lawal Ibrahim was executed for drug trafficking. On the 16th of February it was reported that North Korea executed 8 women by shooting for taking part in an illegal fishing expedition.

China executed Dongmei Lee by shooting on the 4th of March at Chang Sha for an unspecified crime. It has been reported that the following day North Korea executed 13 women by shooting for traveling into China in search of food.
In the early hours of Saturday 20th of July Indonesia executed a 60 year old woman named Sumiarsih together with her 44 year old son, Sugeng for the murders of a family of five in 1988. The execution was carried out by police firing squad in East Java.
On the 27th of August Iran hanged 34 year old Shabnam Setayesh, in Tehran’s Evin prison, who had stabbed her husband to death after she found out that he wanted to divorce her and marry another woman.
It is reported that five unnamed women were shot in North Korea on the 7th of October after a public trial in the Public Stadium at Hoiryeong in North Hamkyung Province. They had been convicted of prostitution and/or assisting the border-crossing of defectors.
On the 27th of October 13 year old Aisho Ibrahim Dhuhulow was publicly stoned to death at Kismayo in Somalia in one of the city's main squares watched by thousands of people. This was a quasi-judicial execution carried out by Islamist insurgents who had captured the city from government forces in August. She was reportedly buried up to her neck in the ground before a group of men stoned her. Her age was given as 23, not 13 and her crime as adultery. It has emerged since that she was actually a rape victim. This horrific execution of a child beggars belief!
On Wednesday 26th November Fatemeh Haqiqat-Pajuh was hanged together with nine men in Tehran’s Evin Prison for the murder of her temporary husband in 2001. She told police during interrogation that her motive was revenge after he raped her daughter from a previous marriage.
Eight men and one woman were hanged in Tehran’s Evin Prison, all for murder, on Tuesday 23rd December. The woman, said to be in her 30’s and named Tayyabeh, was convicted of drugging and the burying alive her 7 year old step daughter. She had confessed to this but later recanted her confession, claiming it was extracted under duress.

2007 case details. (7 executions)
Only two countries have executed women in 2007. They were Iran, where Zahra Nazari was hanged on the 7th of May for an unspecified crime, probably murder. On Saturday the 14th of July a 29 year old woman, who’s name was only given as Houriyeh was publicly hanged in north-western Iran using the jib of a lorry crane, for the murder of her husband. Executed with her were her two male accomplices, Farhad and Reza, whom she had hired to kill three of her in-laws.
On Wednesday the 17th of October 30 year old Fakhteh C. was hanged for the murder of her employer, in private within Tehran’s Evin prison. 8 men were also hanged there on that day.
On Wednesday the 19th of December Zahra N. was hanged in private within Evin prison for the murder of her husband, together with three men in unrelated cases. Other women remain under sentence of death in Iran.

Saudi Arabia publicly beheaded three women in 2007. Hala bint Marzouk Al Outaibi was executed in on Monday the 29th of January for pouring boiling water over the head of another Saudi woman and hitting her with a metal bar. Mjedan bibi Mohammed Sherif was beheaded with her co defendant Mohammed Sadiq Chirag Deen on the 9th of March in Saudi Arabia for drug smuggling. Both were Pakistani. Ethiopian national Khadija Bint Ibrahim Moussa was beheaded in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia on the 9th of May for stabbing to death an Egyptian man during a dispute.

2006 case details. (14 executions)
On the 18th of January, Iran hanged a young couple in private in Tehran's Evin prison. Babak, and his wife, Raheleh had been convicted of killing a mother and her 13 year old daughter during a burglary in July 2003. They took gold and jewelry and then made their getaway in the victims' car.
A member of a child trafficking gang, 49 year old Lin Yudi, was executed by shooting in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian on the 24th of March for her part in trafficking 31 baby boys, one of whom died.
On the 3rd of May Farzaneh Sadeqi was hanged in public in the Iranian province of Lorestan for murder.
Two unnamed women, were put to death by firing squad before dawn on Friday the 19th of May in the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh. They were shot with three men, having been convicted of selling 2.8 kilograms (6 pounds) of heroin.
On Sunday the 21st of May, a woman only identified by the initials Mahboubeh M. and her male accomplice only identified as Abbass H. were hanged in Iran’s north-eastern province of Khorassan-Razavi having been convicted of murdering the woman’s husband.
Lei Hemei, a 38-year-old widow, was executed in Yunnan Province, China on the 9th of June for the murder of her young niece who she drowned in a river. The crime was committed to get back at her mother-in-law who tried to prevented her remarrying.
An unnamed woman was among 27 people hanged in Iraq on the 6th of September, probably for murder.

Nigerian born Amina Amouri Mohammad was publicly beheaded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the 31st of October for smuggling cocaine into the country in her stomach.
Two Pakistani women were publicly beheaded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday the 8th of November for drug offences. They were Gul Asmat bint Gul Zaman and Shehzad Kee bint Nadir Khan who were executed with a male accomplice, Sherif Khan bin Gul Zaman.

On Wednesday the 6th of December Mohammed Mayaseed and his daughter Abagan Rafik were put to death in Mecca, Saudi Arabia after being convicted of smuggling heroin into the kingdom inside their stomachs.
On Monday the 11th of December, Bangladeshi born Jasmine Anwar Hussain, 23, and her co-defendant Mohammed Hilaluddin, 33, were executed by firing squad at Bahrain’s Jaw prison for battering to death a Bahraini housewife.
It is probable that Liu Yibing and her former boss, Zhou Limin a branch manager at the China Construction Bank, were executed by lethal injection on the 14th of December in the Chinese city of Xian for a massive fraud on the bank’s customers.

2005 case details. (9 executions)

Noura bint Khalaf al-Harbi was publicly beheaded in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh on Monday, the 7th of February 2005, having been convicted of setting her mother-in-law, Noura bint Salem al-Harbi, on fire as she slept, following a family dispute.

A 49 year old Indonesian woman named only as Astini was executed by firing squad early on Sunday, the 20th of March, for multiple murders and mutilating her victims in East Java more than a decade ago. The execution took place in a secret location in East Java's provincial capital of Surabaya, 600 kilometres east of Jakarta.
On the 19th of May, Zhu Yaying was executed in China along with her lover, Wang Junping, a former prosecutor in Yangquan, Shanxi Province and Zhu Yaqi, a hitman for the murder of Wang’s former lover, Wang Xiaoli and her daughter.
Drug trafficker, 24 year old Wu Xiaohui, was executed in China on Friday, the 24th of June for drug trafficking and being responsible for the deaths of two drug mules who died when they failed to pass heroin out of their bodies naturally and were poisoned.

On Sunday, the 26th of June, Chen Junyan and her male partner, Deng Pantao, were sentenced to death by the Kunming intermediate court in China’s Yunnan province, having been charged with murder after they killed a dealer to steal his drugs. It is not known whether they were shot or given lethal injections. Their executions, along with those of 8 other drug traffickers were ordered to be carried out Immediately.

On the 6th of July, Roya, 28, (female) and Mohammad, 30, were hanged inside the prison in the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
Apparently Roya had agreed to a "temporary marriage," permitted under Iranian law, to Mohammad Kouhpayeh, her employer. When the marriage contract expired, she married another man, also called Mohammad. Roya demanded that her former husband return some photos but he refused, and she and her new husband murdered him in 1999.

On Sunday, the 10th of July, Noura bint Salman al-Faidi was beheaded in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca for stabbing Dalal bint Abdullah al-Faidi (female) to death after which she poured petrol over her body and set fire to it.

Forty year old Frances Newton was executed on the 14th of September in Texas. She had been convicted of killing her husband and two children to gain $100,000 in insurance benefits

On the 7th of December, 20 year old Akram N. was hanged in Shirvan in northeast Iran. She had been convicted of stabbing to death another woman identified as Maryam A. in 2001.

2004 case details. (25 executions)

Country	Number	Method
China	6	Shooting or lethal injection (private)
Indonesia	1	Shooting by firing squad (private)
Iran	5	Hanging (public or private)
Jordan	1	Hanging (private)
Saudi Arabia	1	Beheading (public)
Singapore	At least 1	Hanging (private)
Vietnam	10	Shooting by firing squad in public

On or about January 25th, an unnamed woman was given 80 lashes and then hanged in private in Iran after being convicted of luring young girls and women to work in a brothel in the northern city Iranian of Qazvin.
On the 12th of February, 45 year old Nguyen Le Hong was publicly executed by firing squad in southern Vietnam in the presence of several thousand people. She had been convicted of running a group of around 16 thieves in Tien Giang, south of Ho Chi Minh City. Members of the gang befriended people and then offered them food and drink laced with narcotics before robbing them when they became unconscious.
Five days later, Wu Yanxia, a woman farmer from central China's HubeiProvince, was executed for burglary and voluntary manslaughter – it is not known whether she was shot or given a lethal injection which is increasingly used in China.
Two female drug traffickers, 42 year old Duong Thi Lien and 52 year old Nguyen Thu Ha, were executed by firing squad at the Cau Nga execution ground in the Tu Liem district of Hanoi in Vietnam at dawn on Tuesday, the 17th of February.

March the 1st saw the hanging of 24 year old Ibtisam Hussein in Jordan’s Swaqa Penitentiary for the murder of two children. The rope broke at the first attempt and she was hanged again an hour later. The children were members of her fiancé’s family who opposed her marriage plans. She drowned them in the Jordan Valley canal, apparently as an act of revenge.
Chinese national, Yen May Woen, 37, became the first person to be executed for drug trafficking in Singapore in 2004 when she was hanged at Changi prison on the 19th of March alongside Jin Yugang (male) who had been convicted of murder.
Nguyen Thi Ha, 48, was executed by firing squad for the same offence in Vietnam on the 9th of April. Nguyen Thi Hien, aged 57, was executed by firing squad in Hanoi on the 12th of May, having been sentenced to death for defaulting on more than 11 billion dong (almost a million US$) in loans from her relatives and friends. Diba Zomorodian, a microbiology student, was hanged in Qazvin (western Iran) on June 29th for an unspecified offence. On the 1st of July, an unnamed 27 year old woman was hanged in Iran’s Ghazvin prison for the murder of her 78 year old father-in-law. It is thought that Monireh Ghasempour was hanged in public in Tehran on July 11th, although her crime is not known.
Sri Lankan born, Bader el-Nisaa Mibari, was publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the 12th of July for killing Sara bint Mohammed al-Haqeel, a Saudi woman, while trying to rob her.
On Sunday, the 15th of August, 16 year old Atefeh (Sahaleh) Rajabi was hanged in public in the town of Neka, Northern Iran. She was put to death for “engaging in acts incompatible with chastity.” Her “crime” was that she had an unmarried boyfriend and was having sex with him. The unnamed boyfriend was sentenced to 100 lashes and afterwards released. Atefeh’s age was given as 22 in court and it has been reported that the judge took great exception to her spirited self defence and himself pushed for her execution with the Iranian Supreme Court. He is alleged to have actually put the noose around her neck before she was hoisted into the air by a lorry mounted hydraulic crane. It has been reported that she had 5 previous convictions for the same offence and had been flogged and imprisoned for these.
On Thursday, the 9th of September, it was reported by the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, that Hu Guohua and his girlfriend, Fan Shue, were executed by lethal injection after being sentenced to death for murder by the Shizuishan city court. Hu and Fan were convicted of murdering Fan's former fiancé.
Indonesia carried out the first execution of a woman for many years when 32 year old Thai national, Namsong Sirilak, and her male accomplice were put to death by police firing squad in Ha Tinh in central Indonesia for smuggling 12Kg.of heroin into the country in February 1994.
On Wednesday, the 13th of October, an unnamed middle aged woman and 5 unnamed men were shot by firing squad in Vietnam, having been convicted of carrying 16.8 kilograms of heroin and 87 kilograms of opium from Laos into Vietnam.
Thirty two year old Ma Xiuqin was put to death in China for having more than 13 kilograms of heroin in her possession when she was arrested in July 2003. She had been sentenced to death by a Beijing court in January this year. Also in China, Chen Xiaomei was put to death on the 27th of October after conviction for lacing food served at a funeral party with poison which resulted in the deaths of 10 guests.
Vietnam carried out two female executions on consecutive days in November. Thirty one year old Tran Thi My Ha was shot by a firing squad on the 16th in central Quang Nam province. She had been convicted of circulating 1.45 billion counterfeit dong (equivalent to US$92,350). The following day, 37 year old Nguyen Thi Mai and her two male associates, Giang A Chong and Dinh Dinh Lam, were shot in northern Bac Giang province of Vietnam after being convicted of trafficking nearly 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) of heroin.
Wu Yuancui, together with 4 men, Luo Jun, Zhang Shou, Zheng An and Hu Gang, were executed in southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Friday, the 25th of November for the murder of 5 people during a robbery at the home of a former Hong Kong TV executive in May 2004. It is not known whether the 5 were shot or executed by lethal injection.
On Thursday, the 9th of December, China executed 38 year old Yu Mingfen together with her 24 year old male accomplice, Ren Shunbo, who had abducted 11 boys, between 2 and 3 years old, from several villages in their home county of Huize between April 2001 and November 2003 and sold them to Ning Dewan, who was executed with them. Seven of the children were rescued by police.
On the 23rd of December, Hoang Thi Dan (age 46) and Tran Thi Bach Diep (age 42) were executed by firing squad in Hai Phong in Vietnam beside murderer Hoang Trung Kien.

2003 case details. (4 executions)
Only 4 women were reported to have been executed in this year. They were :- Yuan Xiuzhen, a 46-year-old woman, who together with 3 men, Hu Aizhong, Yang Pinwu and Chen Shibin, were all put to death in China on the 20th of May. Yuan Xiuzhen had earlier been sentenced to imprisonment on embezzlement and fraud charges but was later released on bail. While on bail, she murdered an elderly man in his 80’s who had lent her money. She hit him with a bottle and then suffocated him with a towel. It is not known whether Yuan was executed by shooting or lethal injection.
Zinat al-Sadat, a 34 year old Iranian nurse, was hanged in a Tehran prison on Wednesday, the 8th of October for strangling a 70 year old man and his 11 year old grandson in 1999.
Bai Dezhen in her early 40’s, who had robbed and strangled a 78 year old grandmother for drug money in Beijing, was executed (by shooting or lethal injection) on Friday, the 21st of November, having been convicted by the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
On Wednesday, the 3rd of December, Qazma Al-Qahtani, a Saudi national, was executed in Abha province (Asir) , Saudi Arabia for the murder by suffocation of her husband. Initially, he was asleep and when he woke and struggled with her, she stabbed him in the arm. Her motive was not disclosed. It is probable that she was shot by a single executioner from behind, instead of beheaded.

2002 case details. (10 executions)
Lynda Lyon Block became the first reported woman to be executed in 2002 when she was executed in Alabama's electric chair on the 10th of May 2002 for the murder of a policeman. Two days later on Sunday, the 12th of May, Zainah bint Saeed bin Mohammed al-Qahtani was publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia for murdering her father by crushing his head with a stone while he slept. On the same day, 34 year old Ibtisam Ahmad went to the gallows in Jordan's Swaqa prison with her boyfriend, Ibrahim Othman, aged 30, for stabbing and suffocating Ahmad's husband who had rejected her divorce request.
On the 15th of August, 20 year old Liu Dongmeng, who had killed and dismembered her lover's wife, was executed by a single shot to the back of her head in the Chinese province of Guangzhou.
On the 8th of October 2002, a woman identified only as Nasrin C was hanged in the city of Tabriz in Iran for the murder of her sister-in-law. The execution was carried out in private at dawn inside the prison. The following day, 46 year old Aileen Wournoss was executed by lethal injection in Florida for the murder of store owner Richard Mallory in 1989. She confessed to 5 other killings later and had volunteered for execution.
A further female hanging took place in Iran on the 16th of October when an unnamed woman was executed alongside 4 unidentified men, all for murder, in Tehran's Ghasr prison.
On Monday, the 21st of October, Saudi Arabia publicly beheaded Noura Hamad with her male accomplice, Al-Tarqi bin Atallah al-Salbi, for murder and theft of their victim's car. No other details of Noura were reported.
On Sunday, the 29th of December, Zahra Baghshirin and Farahnaz Yuly were hanged in a prison in Gachsaran in southwestern Iran. They had been convicted of helping a friend get rid of her husband by stabbing him in the back and beating him with batons.

2001 case details. (25 executions)
2001 saw a record number of verifiable female executions with at least 25 carried out in 9 countries. The first was that of Wanda Jean Allen, by lethal injection, on the 11th of January in Oklahoma for the murder of her lesbian lover.
On the same day, China executed a married couple by shooting for defrauding the ChineseAcademy of Sciences of about £5,600. Liu Yixia used the money to pay off the debts of her unemployed husband, Liu Shaoyang, while the rest was "squandered away" by them. Liu was an accountant for the academy's technological development fund so was able to forge cheques and make out false cash transfers. Fraud and embezzlement are often punished with death in China.

Badriyah Hussein al-Inizi and her mother, Hameedah Saad Qassem, were publicly beheaded on the 15th of January 2001 in Saudi Arabia. Badriyah was convicted of murdering her father, Hussein al-Inizi, at the instigation of her mother. Badriyah gave her father sleeping tablets, then shot him and with the help of her mother, burned the body in a remote area in the desert. They were executed in the eastern province of Hafr el-Baten.

On the 16th of February, Singapore hanged 52 year old Julaiha Maniam, along with two younger men who had helped her to kill her husband, a retired police officer, so that she could then become the sole owner of their $1.15 million terrace house.
In Afghanistan, two unnamed women were publicly hanged for prostitution. These were the first executions for this offence under the Taliban.
On the 19th of March in Iran's capital, Tehran, a young woman and 4 men were publicly hanged for drug trafficking. Fariba Tajiani Emamqoli's last words were translated as, "May God forgive me" before she and her fellow prisoners were blindfolded and noosed. They were lifted, kicking and struggling into the air by lorry mounted cranes in front of about 200 witnesses who chanted "Allah akbar" - God is great and "Death to the traffickers, death to the traffickers." (see also Iran below)

Mariette Bosch, aged 50, became the ninth woman to be executed in 2001 when she was hanged at Gaborone Central prison in Botswana, southern Africa, on Saturday, the 31st of March for the murder of her lover's wife, Maria Wolmarans, on the 25th of June 1996. Her appeal, heard by a panel of 5 Commonwealth judges, was turned down on the 29th of January and despite appeals from human rights groups in South Africa, the Botswanan president refused to reprieve her. Click here for full article.
An unnamed Chinese woman was executed by shooting on April the 11th for killing her husband and Marilyn Kay Plantz, 40, was executed in Oklahoma by lethal injection on the 1st of May 2001 for organising the murder of her husband. She is the seventh woman to be put to death in America since the resumption of executions in 1977.
Kuwait hanged 24 year old Qadeer Kaleeja, an Indian maid, for strangling her elderly employer and stealing her jewellery on the 17th of June. This was the first female execution there since 1988.
Two unnamed women were shot in China on the 21st of June for unspecified crimes. It is thought that an unnamed woman was hanged in Iraq for drug trafficking in June but this is not confirmed.
Thirty five year old Parvin Mirzaei was hanged in Kouhdasht in southwestern Iran on the 3rd of July for the murder of a 65 year old woman 4 years ago because she was afraid the older woman had learned of her decision to run away from home.
On the 11th of July, Iran executed 32 year old Maryam Ayoubi by stoning for the murder of her husband. Her lover was hanged for his part in the murder. China shot Yao Wenhua and her boyfriend, Chen Zongshan, on the 27th of July in Beijing after they murdered Yao's husband.
China executed two women and two men for trafficking in children on the 24th of August. The names of the women were not reported. It is likely that they were shot.
On the 12th of September, Iran executed 37 year old Jamileh Assadpour, who had strangled to death an old woman before robbing her house. She was hanged alongside 3 unnamed men in Tehran's Qasr Prison. Saeedeh Qassempour Malayeri was hanged in the same prison 6 days later for murdering her husband. Her lover, Amir-Hossein Fadaie, was also found guilty of same 3 years ago and sentenced to death by a Tehran court. He however won a last-minute reprieve.
Mona Fandy, her husband and their assistant, were hanged in Malaysia on the 2nd of November for a witchcraft murder of a state assemblyman and chopping him into pieces during a black magic ritual in 1993. Click here for full details.
On the 5th of November, 21 year old Zhu Hongjuan was shot in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou for smuggling heroin. It is probable that more women have been executed in China under the "Strike Hard" campaign which saw some 1,730 executions from early April to the end of 2001.
Oklahoma carried out its third female execution of 2001 on the 5th of December when Lois Nadean Smith was given a lethal injection for the July 4th, 1982 murder of 21 year old Cindy Baillee, whom she suspected of plotting to murder her son, Greg. This emptied the female death row in that state at the time.

General.
Most female executions are for murder or drug trafficking, although some women have been put to death for prostitution and brothel keeping and a few for adultery and other sexual offences in Islamic countries and for economic offences and child trafficking in China.
Maj. Kula Samba was shot for treason in Sierra Leone on the 20th of October 1998, the only reported execution for this offence.
Virginie Mukankusi, a school inspector in Kigali, was executed by firing squad with 3 men outside Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, for genocide on the 24th of April 1998.

America, Botswana, China, the Congo, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates have all carried out death sentences for murder in the last few years.
China, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have executed women for drug offences and it is thought that they all have women on death row at this time. The Philippines also has the death penalty for drug trafficking. There were 18 women on death row in the Philippines for drug trafficking and murder at the end of 2000. In October 1999, President Joseph Estrada reprieved Josefina Esparas who was due to be executed by lethal injection for drug smuggling. Indonesia is expected to resume executions in 2004 and has several women on death row convicted of murder and drug offences. India too, has a small number of condemned women in its prisons who face death by hanging, at present, if their executions proceed.

At least 3 women have been stoned to death for incest and adultery, one in Afghanistan and two in Iran. Iran also executed a 35 year old woman by stoning on the 25th of May 2001 for acting in "obscene sex films'' and stoned a 35 year old woman for murdering her husband and adultery.
It is highly probable that the real figure for stoning executions is much greater as this form of death sentence may be handed down and carried out locally in remote rural areas and thus not always reported. Stonings are usually carried out in public and by the public, although the latest stoning in Iran was carried out inside Tehran’s Evin prison by officials. The poor woman was wrapped in a white shroud and then buried up to her armpits in the prison yard to receive her punishment.
In Iran Article 119 of the Law of Hodoud and Qesas states, "In the punishment of stoning to death, the stones should not be too large so that the person dies on being hit by one or two of them nor should they be so small either that they could not be defined as stones." Women are buried in the ground up to their armpits as it is considered unacceptable for stones to hit their breasts.

Analysis by country:

Afghanistan.
An Afghan woman and her stepson were stoned to death for incest in the rebel held southern Afghan town of Kandahar on the 11th of July 1996. On the 16th of November 1999, a woman identified only as Zarmeena, was publicly shot by a single executioner with a Kalashnikov rifle in a football stadium for beating her husband to death with a hammer as he slept. She is thought to be the only woman to be executed for murder by the Taliban regime. Two unnamed women who had been convicted of prostitution and "corrupting society" were publicly hanged, also in a sports stadium, before a crowd of more than a 1,000 people on the 23rd of February 2001. Since the overthrow of the Taliban, there have been no reported executions in Afghanistan.

America.
America has always shown a marked reluctance to execute women. The execution of Karla Faye Tucker was the first in Texas since Chipita Rodriguez was hanged in 1863 and the electrocution of Judias Buenoano was the first female execution in Florida since 1848. The last female execution, pre 1977, was that of Elizabeth Ann Duncan by lethal gas on August the 8th, 1962 in California.
Forty five women were put to death in America during the 20th century and 11 so far in the 21st century. For details of these women Click here.
Between 1984 and the end of 2007, 11 women have been put to death in America and there are 49 on death row (at 01/10/07). All female death sentences and executions are for 1st degree murder.
Women commit around 15% of all murders in America but represent about 1.5% of the overall death row population.
On the 2nd of November 1984, Margie Velma Barfield became the first woman to die by lethal injection, when she was executed at Raleigh Central Prison in North Carolina for the murder of 4 people including that of her own mother.
No woman was executed in America from then until 1998, when 38 year old Karla Faye Tucker was put to death by lethal injection in Texas, amid huge international publicity on the 3rd of February. 54 year old Judias Buenoano was electrocuted in Florida on the 30th of March that year.
Karla Faye Tucker was executed for the brutal murder of two people with a pickaxe in 1983 and during her years on death row, had become a born again Christian. Judias Buenoano was dubbed the "Black Widow" and had been convicted of killing her son, poisoning her husband and trying to blow up her boyfriend.
There were no female executions in America during 1999.
Texas executed 62 year old Betty Lou Beets on the 24th of February 2000 for the murder of her fifth husband. On the 3rd of May 2000, Arkansas executed Christina Marie Riggs by lethal injection, at her request, for the murder by the same method of her two children. The first female execution of 2001 was that of Wanda Jean Allen on the 11th of January in Oklahoma for murder. Marilyn Kay Plantz followed her to Oklahoma's death chamber on the 1st of May 2001 for organising the murder of her husband. One of her male accomplices had been executed for his part in the killing in 2000. The execution of 61 year old Lois Nadean Smith on the 4th of December emptied Oklahoma's female death row. (see above). Alabama carried out its first female execution since 1957 when 54 year old Lynda Lyon Block was put to death in the electric chair on the 10th of May 2002 for the murder of a policeman. She will most probably be the last woman to suffer this fate as the electric chair is rapidly being phased out in America. Serial killer Aileen Wournos was executed by lethal injection in Florida on the 9th of October 2002. Frances Elaine Newton, aged 40, was executed by lethal injection in Texas on September 14, 2005, having been convicted of killing her husband and two children to gain $100,000 in insurance benefits in 1987. There have been no female executions in 2006 or 2007.

Bahrain.
On Monday the 11th of December, Bangladeshi born Jasmine Anwar Hussain, 23, and her co-defendant Mohammed Hilaluddin, 33, were executed by firing squad at Bahrain’s Jaw prison for battering to death a Bahraini housewife. This is the only female execution in this Gulf state in recent years.

Botswana.
At least 3 women have been hanged in Botswana since independence in 1966, two tribeswomen were executed there in 1971 for killing children.
Mariette Bosch is the last female and only white woman to have been hanged. She was executed on Saturday, the 31st of March 2001.

China.
Although China executes more people per year than the rest of the world put together, only a tiny proportion of these are women however. Up to 2002, all executions were carried out in private (but outside prisons) immediately after confirmation of sentence by a single bullet fired into the back of the head or into the heart. Lethal injection is now being increasingly used, although in a lot of cases the method of execution is not reported (it is a state secret). It is probable that the two women executed in 2003 were given lethal injections. These executions can be carried out either within the prison or within specially built execution vans. Only a small proportion of executions are reported in the Chinese media so it is probable that other women have been executed.
Four women were shot in 1996, all for murder. A further execution took place in 1997 when Han Yuji, former president of the Jilin province Yuquan Industrial and Trade Co, was shot for organising a huge fraud.
Yan Guangfen was shot in Chongqing on May 28th, 1998 for kidnapping 12 boys. Four women were shot in December 1998, two each for murder and drug offences, one of these being 18 year old Tang Linjiao and the other 21 year old Xiong Wenna.
Two female executions were reported during 1999, those of Ma Yulan on the 2nd of March for brothel keeping and Zhou Mingrong, who was shot for masterminding a fraudulent savings scheme on 25/08/99. Death sentences for "economic crimes" are quite common in China. On the 11th of January 2001, Liu Yixia was shot with her husband, Liu Shaoyang, for fraud (see above). An unnamed young woman was shot for murdering her husband on the 11th of April 2001 after a mass sentencing rally. She was one of 89 people put to death that day. Two unnamed women were shot on the 21st of June. It is probable that several more women have been executed during this year under the government's "Strike Hard" campaign on crime. Yao Wenhua was executed on the 27th of July for murder (see above). Two men and two women were shot for child trafficking on the 24th of August. On the 5th of November, 21 year old Zhu Hongjuan was shot for smuggling heroin after being condemned at a public sentencing rally in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. The only female execution reported in 2002 occurred on the 15th of August when old Liu Dongmeng (see above) was executed for murder in Guangzhou. Forty six year old Yuan Xiuzhen was executed with 3 men on the 20th of May 2003 for murder. She had earlier been sentenced to imprisonment for embezzlement and fraud and was later released on bail for medical treatment. While on bail, she murdered a man in his 80’s when the latter asked her to return more than 17,000 yuan (about 2,050 U.S. dollars) he had lent her. She knocked him down with a liquor bottle and small iron balls and suffocated him with a towel.
On Friday, the 21st of November 2003, Bai Dezhen of Beijing, reportedly in her early 40’s, was executed for robbing and killing her 78 year old grandmother who refused to lend her money for drugs in March 2001. When the loan was refused, Bai knocked the old woman down and choked her with nylon stockings. Wu Yanxia was executed on the 17th of February 2004 for murder and on the 9th of September 2004, Fan Shue was executed by lethal injection for murder.

Congo.
Two unnamed women were executed by firing squad for murder in the Congo on the 15th of May 1999.

Egypt.
It is reported that Egypt has hanged 7 women for murder in recent years, although the only firm information at present concerns Zeinab Mohamed Ahmed, who was hanged on September the 18th, 1991, Manal Abd al-Qabel, who was executed in Tanta on May the 8th, 1999 and Saleh Mansour Hashem, who was hanged on the 10th of September 2000. A British style noose and measured drop are used and executions are carried out in private.

Indonesia.
Indonesia resumed executions in 2004, after a gap of some years and has to date (March 2005), executed two men and two women.
Thirty two year old Thai national, Namsong Sirilak, was the first woman to be put to death for many years when she was shot by a 12 man police firing squad at about 1.40 a.m. on Friday, the 1st of October 2004 at a secret location on the outskirts of the North Sumatra capital of Medan. She and two male accomplices were arrested in 1994 for smuggling 12.19 Kgs. of heroin into Indonesia. The ring leader, Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey, was executed on the 4th of August 2004 and the other man, Saelow Praseart, at the same time as Namsong Sirilak. There is at least one other woman on death row for drug trafficking.
On the 20th of March 2005, 50 year old Astini was executed for murdering and mutilating 3 women on separate occasions between August 1993 and September 1995 because they were unable to repay their debts to her. She is the first Indonesia born woman to be put to death in the country where it is not uncommon for women to go by only one name. The execution took place in a secret location in East Java's provincial capital of Surabaya, 600 kilometres east of Jakarta at 1.20 a.m. She was reportedly tied to a chair and the 12 man firing squad stood 5 meters away aiming at her heart.

Iran.
Iran is thought to have executed a large number of women both by shooting and hanging after the overthrow of the Shah but since 1983, reported female executions have been quite rare and are generally for murder or drug offences. Execution is normally by hanging without a drop and can be in private or public. In recent years, the hydraulic jibs of breakdown trucks have been used for public executions of both sexes. Public hanging also seems to have become more frequently used.
For a detailed analysis of the situation in Iran click here.

Iraq.
It is clear that a substantial number of female executions were carried out by Saddam Hussein’s regime up to 2003, but no details are available of the names and crimes of these women. There was a female death row in Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison where it is thought that most executions were carried out by hanging, although shooting and beheading were also used for women. One woman was hanged in 2006 and at least 3 women are on death row in Iraq in 2007.

Japan.
Japan has only hanged one women in recent years. She was Nobuko Hidaka, 51, who was executed with her husband, Yasumasa, 54, at a detention centre in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo on the 2nd of August 1997. They were convicted of killing 6 of their employees in a 1984 dormitory fire they set to obtain an insurance payout. Executions in Japan are quite rare (typically 2–4 a year total), and all are for murder carried out by long drop hanging in private in various detention centres around the country.

Jordan.
For a small country, Jordan has had a surprising number of female executions in recent years. There have been a total of 103 civilian executions there between 1994 and 2004, of which 9 were of women (8.75% of total). Executions are carried out by hanging in Swaqa Prison, about 45 miles (75 km) south of Amman (the capital). Jordanian hangings are carried out in private but female ones are always heavily attended by officials. It is unclear whether a measured drop is given to prisoners. In the last 6 years, the following women have been put to death for murder.
Amira Saleem, a 31 year old Syrian woman and her neighbour, Eidah Hussein (35), were hanged together on the 25th of June 1997 for the murder of Saleem's husband, Murad Youssef, also a Syrian, in March 1996.
According to court testimony, Saleem wanted her husband killed because he mistreated and beat her. She got Hussein, her friend and neighbour, to shoot Youssef, and the two women sliced the body into 8 pieces and dumped it in a drain.
On the 28th of August 1997, Raya Musa, aged 35, was executed for killing her husband with rat poison after he refused her request for a divorce.
Egyptian sisters, 19 year old Rasha and 24 year old Abeer Ibrahim, were hanged on the 3rd of December 1998 for the robbery/murder of Abeer's elderly employer.
No female executions were reported until 2002, when Ibtisam Ahmad was hanged for murdering her husband (see 2002 above).
Twenty four year old Ibtisam Hussein was hanged for the murder of two children on March the 1st, 2004. (see 2004 above)

Kuwait.
Three women have been hanged in Kuwait since independence from Britain in 1961, when it has since executed a total of 50 criminals. Executions are carried out in private (since 1985) within Central Prison by British style hanging. During 2004, the bodies of hanged male criminals are shown to the public immediately after the drop. It is not known whether this practice will be extended to female prisoners.
Indian born, Qadeer Kaleeja, was hanged on the 17th of June 2001 (see above). This was the first female execution there since 1988 when Alice Norban Barissi and Farida Taher Sheeh (both Indian) were hanged, also for murder. A Pilipino maid who had been convicted of murder had her death sentence reduced to life in prison by Kuwait’s ruler in 2007.

Malaysia.
At least two women have been hanged under Malaysia's strict anti-drug laws. Thirty three year old Hau Tsui Ling, along with 7 men, including her boyfriend, were executed there in 1990. She and her boyfriend were hanged together, on a separate gallows, at their request. They were arrested in 1982 at Penang airport after being found in possession of 28 lbs. of heroin and were convicted in 1985.
Tan Bee Lee was hanged for drug offences on the 29th of July 1994.
Mona Fandey, 45, with her husband Mohamed Affandi Abdul Rahman, 44, who were described as a 'witchdoctor' couple and their assistant, Juraimi Hussin, 31, were hanged before dawn on the 2nd of November 2001 at Kajang Prison on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpu for murdering a state assemblyman and chopping him into pieces during a black magic ritual in 1993. This is the first female execution there for murder in recent years. A British style noose and measured drop are used and executions are carried out in private.

Saudi Arabia.
Since 1990, Saudi Arabia is reported to have executed 35 women. Both public beheading and shooting in private are allowed under Saudi law for women, although the latter seems to have ceased to be used by 1990.
Nasir bin 'Ali al-Mari was beheaded for murder on the 5th of January 1990.
Yemeni, Aishah bint Jaber bin Ahmed bin 'Issa was beheaded for murder in Riyadh on the 18th of September 1992.
Noura bint Ubeid bin Aqla Al-Zuebi and Aisha bint Muhammed bin Daydan bin Aqla Al-Zuebi (mother and daughter) were beheaded on the 11th of December 1992 for murdering Noura's husband.
Pakistani born, Rani bint Khamisullah Bashak was beheaded for murder on the 15th of January 1993.
Egyptian, Salwa bint Mohamed bin 'Ali was beheaded in Dhahran for murder on the 29th of January 1993.
Jumu'a bint 'Abdelkhaleq bin Mifreh al-Ghamdi was beheaded in Baha on the 12th of February 1993 for murder.
Filipino maid, Eleanor Akola was executed on the 7th of May 1993, also for murder.
Indonesian born Konti Vidarati Tonotini was beheaded for murder in Mecca on the 7th of October 1994.
Saudi born, Fatima bint 'Abdullah was executed on the 27th of March 1995 for drug offences.
Saudi murderess, Mubarak bin Masoud al-Masoud was beheaded on the 27th of June 1995.
Laila bint 'Abdulmajid bin 'Abdulhamid and Husein bin Ahmed al-Nass were executed on the 11th of August 1995, both for murder.
Nigerian, Rabi bint Mohamed bin Hamid was put to death on the 25th of August 1995 for drug offences.
Pakistani, Dal Feroza Dilawer suffered for the same crime on the 25th of September 1995.
Zaferah bint Saeed bin Mohamed al-Saleem shot her husband, Saeed ibn Hamad al-Suleim, 3 times with his own rifle while he was asleep. She was executed on the 18th of August 1996 in Najran, 600 miles (950 km) south of Riyadh.
On the 26th of November 1996, Pakistanis, Bakhtawar Ghazi Khan and Sabati Khatoun Maghrabi were executed in Jeddah for drug offences.
Nigerian, Zahra Isa Ali was beheaded on the 30th of June 1997, also in Jeddah for drug offences.
Nigerian, Bana Mohamed Adam was executed there on the 19th of September 1997 for drug offences.
On the 30th of October 1997, 30 year old Sulikah Anam Kafiran, from East Java, was beheaded in Mecca for the murder, with an axe, of her elderly female employer. There were no reported female executions in 1998.
Nigerian born, Hawa Awu Farouk was beheaded in Jeddah on the 28th of May 1999 for drug offences.
Fellow Nigerian, Aisha Saadeh Kassem was beheaded on the 16th of July 1999 in Jeddah, also for drug smuggling.
On the 3rd of September 1999, Nigerian, Safira Onnabi Salami suffered for the same offence.
Carlito Soriya, a Filipino, was beheaded on the 8th of October 1999 for stabbing a Saudi to death following a dispute.
Saudi born, Fayzeh bint Hamoud bin Khalaf al-Jo was beheaded on the 21st of February 2000 for burning her husband to death by setting his bedroom on fire.
Warani Samiran Awdi (Indonesian) was beheaded for murder on the 19th of June 2000.
Pakistani national, Mokhtiyara Khadem Hussein was executed for drug offences on the 18th of July 2000.

Singapore.
Singapore seems to practice strict sex equality with the death penalty and hanged 9 women in the 90's. Six were executed for drug trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973/75 which made drug trafficking a capital offence and 3 were hanged for murder. All Singaporean executions are carried out before dawn on Friday’s in Changi prison and no details are released. Prisoners are usually executed in groups (of up to 7 at a time) with men and women being hanged together using the long drop method. Bodies are returned to the relatives for burial. Executions are now rarely reported unless the criminal is not Singaporean. It is highly probable that more Singaporean women have been hanged for drug trafficking since 2000 and at least one has suffered for murder.

Hanged for drug trafficking were:
Hong Kong born, Cheuk Mei-mei, aged 29, who was executed on the 3rd of March 1994 followed by Hong Kongese born, Tsang Kai Mong Elke on the 16th of December 1994. Twenty five year old Angel Mou Pui- Peng, who was from the Portuguese province of Macau, went to the gallows on the 6th of January 1995 having been allowed a one week stay of execution to celebrate Christmas as she was a Christian.
Tong Ching-man (24) and Poon Yuen-chung (22) who were both from Hong Kong and were only 18 at the time of their crime, were hanged on the 21st of April 1995.
Thai national, Navarat Maykha (32), was executed on the 28th of September 1996.

Four women have been hanged for murder up to 2004:
Flor Contemplacion aged 42, a Filipina maid, who was executed amidst strong protests from the Philippines government on 17/03/95. She was convicted of the double murder of another Filipina maid, Delia Maga, and the 3 year old Singaporean son of her employer on May 4th, 1991.
Teo Kim Hong, a 36 year old prostitute, was hanged on the 6th of September 1996 for stabbing another prostitute to death and Gerardine Andrew, also 36, was executed on the 26th of February 1999 for her part in the murder of her landlady.
On the 16th February 2001, Julaiha Maniam was executed for murder (see 2001 above).

South Korea.
On the 30th of December 1997, South Korea hanged 5 unnamed women and 18 men for various murders. These are the first reported female hangings there since two unidentified women were hanged on December the 18th, 1991, also for murder. A measured drop is used and executions are carried out in private within prisons. There have been no executions of either sex since.

Thailand.
Samai Pan-intara (59) was executed by machine gun in Bangkwang prison on November the 23rd, 1999 for heroin trafficking, together with two male murderers. She was the first woman to be executed in Thailand for over 20 years. There were at least 11 other women on death row there. Lethal injection replaced shooting from 2003.

United Arab Emirates.
Eighteen year old Sithi Faruk from Sri Lanka was executed by firing squad in the United Arab Emirates in April 1995 for the murder of her employer's baby.
The UAE also executed a woman by firing squad on the 23rd of December 1997 for killing her Emirates husband. Egyptian born, Zainab Ramadan Zaki, had been convicted of the premeditated stabbing murder of her husband in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, one of the 7 that make up the United Arab Emirates. Her 6 children insisted on the sentence being carried out. They would have been allowed to spare her under Islamic law.
Fatima Yossef al-Din Sayed was put before a firing squad in Doha Prison (Qatar) on the 14th of June 2000, along with her two male accomplices for the murder of her husband.

Vietnam.
Vietnam executes women by firing squad in public, principally for drug offences. On the 3rd of March 1998, Lai Thi Ngan, the only woman among 7 members of a drug’s ring, was tied to a wooden stake and publicly shot at 5:30 a.m. at a firing range in Hanoi by 5 policemen.
Amidst considerable international outcry, Nguyen Thi Hiep, who had dual Canadian/Vietnamese nationality, suffered the same fate on the 25th of April 2000, also in Hanoi, after being found guilty of trafficking in heroin in 1996. There were no more reported female executions until 2004, since when at least 9 have been carried out (see 2004 above). No female executions were reported in 2007 but 2 were carried out in May 2006.

Women and the death penalty.
Women account for less than 1% of all executions carried out worldwide in recent years and there is a marked reluctance to execute them in most countries.
Only China, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Vietnam regularly execute women without any apparent sex bias. The penal codes of most countries prohibit the execution of pregnant women, who are either reprieved at once or, in theory, liable to be executed after they have given birth. In practice, I can find no case where this has happened and all such death sentences have been commuted.

Women tend not to commit the more heinous murders in the main and are more likely to be convicted of domestic murders, which are often perceived as less serious.
My own research shows the vast majority of respondents of both sexes do not feel that women should be treated more leniently than men.

Back to Contents page Female hangings 1988 - 2004