The death penalty has been a popular form of capital punishment for centuries. Used since the 18th BCE, it may seem as though capital punishment is archaic in today’s world, and perhaps it is, but more than half of Americans support the death penalty.
The most recent recipient of capital punishment in the United States was Kenneth Eugene Smith. Smith, 58, was convicted for a 1988 murder-for-hire, and in Alabama on January 25, he became the first person to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia.
This method of execution has created a commotion for anti-death penalty proponents, claiming that it hasn’t been thoroughly researched, and although the state released an official protocol for this new method, the document that was released to the public was heavily redacted.
Appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court
This wasn’t the first attempt to execute Smith. In 2022, the state tried to use death by lethal injection but when authorities couldn’t connect an IV line, the execution was halted. Smith had several last-minute appeals in numerous courts, in an attempt to block his execution by nitrogen inhalation.
His appeal even reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Court refused to intervene. Three justices dissented, including Justice Sonia Sotomayor. In her dissent, Sotomayer wrote, “Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before. The world is watching.”
Justice Sotomayor was certainly correct when she noted that the world would be watching the events in Alabama. Capital punishment has always been a topic of fierce debate, not just in the United States but around the globe, and this saga has only further exacerbated the controversy over capital punishment.
It is a debate centered on the morality of the death penalty itself. In nations where the death penalty is legal, there is a strong debate over which execution methods ought to be legal and which should be banned due to their barbarism and archaic nature.
Barbaric Executions of the Past
While the methods of capital punishment have changed through the years, it is still steeped in a history of barbaric brutality, with many methods causing practically every person today to recoil in disgust. These ancient methods included flaying (removing a person’s skin), impalement on a pole, starvation, and slow slicing (removing a person’s body parts slowly over time; this was sometimes known as “death by a thousand cuts).
These methods were often instituted to torture the condemned person to the fullest possible extent before they finally died. Many famous horrific executions include Anne Boleyn (beheaded), Socrates (poisoned), Joan of Arc (burned), Marie Antoinette (beheaded), Mary, Queen of Scots (beheaded), and Jesus of Nazareth (crucified).
Shockingly, some nations still use many of these outdated, barbaric forms of capital punishment.
Archaic Executions Still in Use Today
We compiled a list of nations with the most ancient forms of capital punishment that many see as archaic and inhumane. Methods of execution that are typically quick and inflict minimal suffering on the condemned person, like execution by lethal injection and hanging, were omitted from this list.
Many view capital punishment itself as inhumane, regardless of the method but this list is not a commentary for or against the death penalty. Rather, it documents nations where the most controversial execution methods are legal.
24/7 Tempo compiled this list using information from Cornell Law School’s Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. According to Cornell, there are 36 retentionist nations in the world today. Retentionist nations are defined as countries that have carried out at least one execution in the past ten years. Among these nations, 27 employ execution methods other than lethal injection or hanging. (For our purposes, Palestine is counted among these nations even though it is not a sovereign state.)
1. Afghanistan
- Method of execution: Shooting, hanging, stoning
- Amount of executions in 2022: 2 (at least)
In the past, in addition to the traditional methods, flogging and amputation have occurred. Since the Taliban has taken control, stonings are another way of execution, although this is illegal since it is in contradiction with the human rights protections recognized by Afghanistan’s Constitution.
2. Bahrain
- Method of execution: Shooting
- Amount of executions in 2022: Unknown
Death by firing squad is the only legal means of execution according to Bahrain’s Penal Code.
3. Bangladesh
- Method of execution: Shooting, hanging
- Amount of executions in 2022: 4
The firing squad is a legal but rare form of execution in Bangladesh. Hanging accounts for virtually all executions in the country.
4. Belarus
- Method of execution: Shooting
- Amount of executions in 2022: 1 (at least)
By law, all executions in Belarus are performed by a firing squad and are carried out by a single shot to the back of the head. Execution data is heavily guarded by the state, so it is impossible to know how many executions are carried out in a given year.
5. China
- Method of execution: Shooting
- Amount of executions in 2022: 1,000+
China also employs lethal injection as a capital punishment. This nation executes more convicted persons each year than the rest of the world’s nations combined. Data such as numbers and methods are held secret by the state, so it is impossible to gather precise information. It is also believed that organ removal has been employed.
6. Gambia
- Method of execution: Shooting, hanging
- Amount of executions in 2022: 0
Gambia has declared a moratorium on capital punishment and will likely be removed from the list of retentionist nations in the future.
7. India
- Method of execution: Shooting, hanging
- Amount of executions in 2022: 0
Death by hanging is the only legal Method of execution for civilians. The firing squad is only referenced in the military court-martial system.
8. Indonesia
- Method of execution: Shooting
- Amount of executions in 2022: Unknown
Death by firing squad is the only legal Method of execution in Indonesia.
9. Iran
- Method of executions: Shooting, Stoning, Falling
- Amount of executions in 2022: Unknown
Hanging is the most common method of execution in Iran, but the firing squad and death by stoning are also legal.
Stoning involves placing the convicted person in a stoning pit and burying them up to their waist (men) or neck (women) so they cannot move. Executioners then hurl stones at the person until they are incapacitated or dead. Some individuals in Iran have been flogged before stoning.
Execution by falling involves throwing the convicted person off of a cliff or some other height.
10. Iraq
- Method of execution: Shooting
- Amount of executions in 2022: 11 (at least)
Hanging is the primary method of execution in Iraq. Death by firing squad is referenced in Military and Internal Security Forces laws, but it is rarely (if ever) used.
11. Kuwait
- Method of execution: Shooting, hanging
- Amount of executions in 2022: 7
Hanging is the chosen method of execution for civilians in Kuwait, although in certain circumstances, shooting is also a legal method.
12. Libya
- Method of execution: Shooting
- Amount of executions in 2022: Unknown
The firing squad is the only legal method of execution in Libya.
13. Nigeria
- Method of executions: Beheading, shooting, stoning, crucifixion, hanging, lethal injection
- Amount of executions in 2022: Unknown
Hanging is the most frequently employed Method of execution in Nigeria but the country employs multiple other execution practices. A person convicted by a Shari’a court in the Northern Region can potentially be sentenced to beheading.
Stoning is reserved for Muslims in some northern Nigerian states. It is punishment for adultery, rape, incest, and homosexual sodomy. Death by crucifixion is rarely employed, but it is an option under certain circumstances. Lethal injection was introduced in 2015.
14. North Korea
- Method of execution: Shooting, hanging
- Amount of executions in 2022: 4 (at least)
Most executions are carried out in secret and the information is held confidential by the North Korean government. Hanging and firing squads are the two legal forms of execution, although it is believed that decapitation is another method used.
It is impossible to know if other methods are used or how many people are executed in North Korea in a given year. There were almost certainly more than the four verified executions in 2022. It is also impossible to differentiate between legal and extrajudicial executions. The judiciary is subservient to the political leadership. If the political regime wishes to execute without a trial, there is no one to stop it.
15. Oman
- Method of execution: Shooting
- Amount of executions in 2022: Unknown
While hanging is a legal option, most executions in Oman are performed by a firing squad.
16. Pakistan
- Method of executions: Varied
- Amount of executions in 2022: Unknown
Pakistan is difficult to categorize. Death by hanging is the only official method of execution, but there are reports of legally permissible stoning, such as in the cases of rape or adultery. There have also been reports of death by mutilation caused by incisions and acid. It must be noted, though, that these cases are outliers.
17. Palestine
- Method of execution: Shooting, hanging
- Amount of executions in 2022: 5 (Carried out in Gaza by the Hamas de facto administration)
Hanging is also a legal Method of execution, along with a firing squad. Executions must be ratified by the President of the Palestinian National Authority. However, Hamas is known to carry out extrajudicial executions with no repercussions.
18. Qatar
- Method of execution: Shooting
- Amount of executions in 2022: Unknown
While executions are rare, firing squad and hanging are the two officially recognized methods of execution in Qatar. There has been speculation that stoning is permissible, as well, though no verification in Qatari law has been found. It is possible that outside observers do not have access to all the relevant laws.
19. Saudi Arabia
- Method of executions: Shooting, Stoning, Beheading
- Amount of executions in 2022: 196 (at least)
Saudi Arabia lists several crimes that carry a mandatory death sentence. The nation’s secrecy regarding the death penalty makes it difficult to know the numbers and methods of executions in the country.
20. Somalia
- Method of execution: Shooting
- Amount of executions in 2022: 6 (at least)
Most executions are considered extrajudicial since they are not carried out by a functioning government. Different regions of Somalia apply different laws and insurgent militias have carried out executions. There is no way to know what other methods of execution may be employed or to what extent.
21. Sudan
- Method of executions: Stoning, hanging
- Amount of executions in 2022: Unknown
Hanging is the predominant method of execution in Sudan, and appears to be the only method employed but stoning is applied for certain hadd offenses, which are offenses specifically mentioned in the Qurʾān, along with the appropriate penalties.
Other methods of execution are also legal. According to Sudanese law, sentences may be carried out “in the same manner in which the offender caused death.” There are also verified cases of crucifixion as a punishment for armed robbery.
22. Syria
Method of execution: Shooting, hanging
Amount of executions in 2022: 2 (at least)
Hanging is a legal method of execution and the nation has been known to employ mass hangings, along with a firing squad. The ongoing conflict in Syria makes it impossible to gather accurate data regarding the use of capital punishment.
23. Taiwan
- Method of execution: Shooting
- Amount of executions in 2022: 0
Lethal injection and hanging are two methods of execution that have been studied as possibilities in Taiwan, although the only practice currently employed is shooting. The convicted person is sedated and a medical professional notes the location of the heart. The prisoner is then shot three times at close range. For prisoners who agreed to donate their organs, the shot is fired into the back of the head.
24. United Arab Emirates
- Method of execution: Shooting, hanging, stoning
- Amount of executions in 2022: Unknown
A firing squad is currently the only method of execution in the UAE, but stoning is legal for certain offenses under Shari’a law, and hanging is approved in the civilian courts. Executions appear to be infrequent in the nation, though.
25. United States
- Method of execution: Shooting, gas chamber, electrocution, lethal injection
- Amount of executions in 2022: 18
While the U.S. federal government can enforce the death penalty for certain federal crimes, under the U.S. legal system, great authority is granted to the states. Laws regarding capital punishment vary widely in different states. Twenty-one states, along with the District of Columbia, have abolished the death penalty.
Although 29 states legally retain the death penalty, only 19 have carried out executions since 2009. The vast majority of executions in the U.S. are through lethal injection. It is legal in all rentionist U.S. states.
Execution by firing squad is only legal in three states – Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah – and only under specific circumstances. Gas chamber executions are legal in seven states – Alabama, Arizona, Missouri, California, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Wyoming.
Electrocution is legal in nine states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
It must be noted that these alternate methods are rarely used. They are normally reserved for times when the drugs for lethal injection are unavailable or legally prohibited in specific instances.
26. Vietnam
- Method of execution: Shooting, lethal injection
- Amount of executions in 2022: 2 (at least)
A law in 2010 declared that lethal injection was the new legal form of execution but due to difficulty obtaining the necessary drugs, the nation may return to the firing squad to conduct executions.
27. Yemen
- Method of executions: Shooting, stoning, flogging
- Amount of executions in 2022: 4 (at least)
Most executions in Yemen are carried out through shooting although stoning is still legal, as well. Laws prescribing “retribution-in-kind” are not well-defined, but they open the door for other methods of execution.