Female executions 2000 to 2019.

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

2019 case details.

On Tuesday the 29th of January Saudi Arabia executed 39 year old Rosilia Bacona Ajmul, a Filipino maid in the province of Hafr al-Batin for the murder of her employer, Hamid bin Turki bin Hayef al-Fadhli, by stabbing him in the face as he lay in bed. She also attempted to murder his daughter. It is though that Ajmul was beheaded in public.

A woman only identified as M.A. was hanged Wednesday morning, the 30th of January, in the prison of Nowshahr in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran. She had been on death row for six years, having been convicted of murder.

Saudi Arabia executed Aida Bint Shaman bin Banha Rashidi in Al-Ahsa in Eastern province on Monday the 11th of February for the 2017 murder of her husband’s six year old daughter, Reem bint Faraj bin Abdullah al-Rashidi.

On Monday the 2nd of April, Kudirat Afolabi a Nigerian woman along with two Pakistani men and a Yemeni man were beheaded in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

Two Pakistani nationals, Muhammad Mustafa Ijaz and Fatima Ijaz, husband and wife, were executed in Jeddah Saudi Arabia for heroin smuggling on Thursday the 11th of April.

On Wednesday the 19th of June, Fatima Ali Hussein Salmi, a Yemeni national, was beheaded in Najran, Saudi Arabia for the murder of fellow Yemeni, Sabrh Mohammed Saad Al Sdlh, whom she had strangled, stolen her gold jewellery and then set fire to her body.

On the same day Fatemeh Nassiri was hanged in Gohardasht Prison, (a.k.a Rajai-Shahr) in Iran. She had been on death row for 11 years for a murder committed by her son. She was hanged with an unidentified man convicted of a separate murder.

On Tuesday the 16th of July, Malihei Salehian was hanged in Mahabad Central Prison in Iran for murder. No details were given as to the nature of the crime.

43 year old Zahra Safari Moghadam, was hanged in the prison of Nowshahr, Iran on Wednesday the 17th of July. She had been convicted of the murder of 5 year old Bardiya Hatami, about four years ago. Moghadam was employed as a nurse by the child’s grandmother.

On the morning of Tuesday the 23rd of July, two women were hanged for murder at Urmia prison in Iran. They were Arasteh Ranjbar and Nazdar Vatankhah who had been on death row for 15 years. Arasteh Ranjbar was sentenced to death for killing her husband. Her own children were the plaintiffs. Nazdar Vatankhah who was the victim’s sister, sentenced to death as the co-conspirator in the same case.

At dawn on Saturday the 3rd of August two women were hanged together with three male family members in Egypt for the kidnapping and murder of a four year old girl named Shaima F., for whom they tried to obtain a large ransom. They were 46 year old Hamada Abdel Fattah Qandil, his wife 40 year old Asma Ali, son 22 year old Islam Hamada and daughter 19 year old Asma together with her fiancée 21 year old Ayman Shalabi. They had kidnapped the four year old from her nursery school and demanded a ransom of 100,000 Egyptian pounds. When this was not forthcoming they strangled her in March 2013. It is thought that the executions took place in Tanta General Prison.

An unnamed 34 year old woman was hanged on the 25th of August at the Central Prison in Mashad, Iran for the murder of her two children, 8 year old Arash (boy) and 9 year old Sima (girl). She gave the children sleeping pills before stabbing them to death.
It appears that she was suffering from depression as the result of her husband dying, but she denied she was mentally ill. She helped the investigating judge carry out a reconstruction of the crime scene.

Sakina Abdoh Baraqu was executed in Saudi Arabia on the 22nd of September for the murder of a little Sudanese girl named Fatima Haidar Saleh Ahmed.

37 year old Leila Zarafshan was hanged in Sanandaj Prison, Iran on Thursday the 26th of September. She had been convicted of the premeditated murder of her husband and had held in the Sanandaj Central Prison for five years pending negotiations with his family. An unnamed woman was hanged the previous day in Karaj, Iran, also for murder.

33 year old Somayeh Shahbazi Jahroei was hanged at Sepidar Prison in Ahwaz Iran, on the Wednesday the 4th of December for the murder of a man who allegedly tried to rape her 6 years ago. Also on the 4th of December Fatemeh Ghezel Safarlou and Nargess o-Sadat Tabaii were hanged in Gohardasht Prison, Iran, for separate murders.

Sabr al-Jamal, age, 30 was hanged on Sunday the 8th of December within the Assiut Appeal Prison in Egypt for the murders of her husband and mother in law in 2014, due to her having an affair.

32 year old Maryam and her husband Medhi R. were hanged in the Central Prison of Mashhad on the 11th of December for the murder of her ex-husband’s sister.

Fatemeh R was hanged in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, Iran, c.12th December. Fatemeh was 21 years old and was convicted of stabbing her husband to death during a family dispute when she was only 17 years old.

2018 case details.

A 17 year old woman, named Mahbubeh Mofidi, was hanged at Noshahr prison, Iran on the 30th of January 2018. She had been on death row for four years, having been convicted of the murder of her husband of one month in December 2013. It is probable that she poisoned him.

On the 19th of July Saudi Arabia beheaded Ethiopian maid, Sayida Aishitou Mohammed in Jeddah, for the murder of her sponsor, Khaled Al-Shuraibi by stabbing him several times because of a dispute between them.

35 year old Mo Huanjing was put to death on Friday the 21st of September, in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province for setting fire to the apartment of her employer, Lin Binsheng, on June 22, 2017, in Hangzhou, killing Lin's wife and three children, aged 6, 8 and 11 years old. Mo was sentenced to death by the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court on February 9.

On Tuesday the 2nd of October, Zeinab Sekaanvand was hanged alongside two men at Urmia's central prison in Iran. She was convicted of the murder of her abusive husband when she was 17.

34 year old Tuty Tursilawati was executed on Monday the 29th of October in Saudi Arabia after being sentenced to death eight years ago for murdering her employer.

On Tuesday the 13th of November 27 year old Sharareh Elyasi was hanged at Sanandaj prison in Iran for murder of Gholam Wasi in 2013.

Ameima A M. from Aswan was hanged for murder with four men within Egypt’s Al-Minya prison on Tuesday the 4th of December. No other details of her crime were given.

Noushin, age 25, was hanged in Iran on Saturday the 22nd of December for stabbing her boyfriend, Sohail, to death because he was being unfaithful to her. The location of this execution was not reported.

2017 case details.

Kuwait hanged three women for separate murders on the 25th of January. They were 30 year old Kuwaiti citizen, Nasra al-Enezi, who had set fire to a wedding tent in 2009, causing the deaths of 57 women and children. 42 year old Jakatia Mandon Pawa had been convicted of the stabbing to death her employer’s 20-year-old daughter in 2008. Omkel Oku Mekonnen from Ethiopia was hanged for a similar offence. Nasra al-Enezi was the first Kuwaiti woman to ever be hanged there. Click here for her case details.

On the morning of Saturday March 4, four prisoners, including two unnamed women, were hanged at Rasht's central prison in Lakan, Iran. All were convicted of murder.

On Wednesday May 3, eight prisoners, including two unidentified women, were reportedly hanged at Karaj's Rajai Shahr Prison in Iran, also having been convicted of murder.

On Sunday the 14th of May a woman only identified by her initials, M. F. A. was hanged in Tanta General Prison in Egypt with her lover and friend for the murder of her husband in 2013.

On Saturday July 1, two men and one woman were reportedly hanged at Rasht's central prison, Iran on drug trafficking charges. The men were Sallaholdin Par and Jafar Saadanloo, together with the latter’s wife, whose first name was not given.

Kenyan born Elizabeth Niyambura Ghatshaw was beheaded in al-Dammam in Saudi Arabia on the 11th of July for the murder of a Saudi woman named Lulua bint Mohammed bin Seliman al-Qadhi.

Two unnamed women were hanged in Iran on Wednesday the 26th of July. One was executed with two men at Urmia's Central Prison for drug trafficking and the other, a 25 year old, at Babol Central Prison for murder.

A woman identified as N.A. was hanged in Zanjan, Iran on charges of murder on the 19th of September.

Saudi Arabia beheaded Berhani Tasfani on the 14th of September in Riyadh for murder of Hassa bint Abdullah bin Faleh al-Dosari by stabbing her several times with a knife.

Trần Thị Nhung (age 48) was executed by lethal injection in Hanoi Vietnam in mid October for drug trafficking.

2016 case details.

Zahra Nemati was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison in Iran on Wednesday the 6th of January for drug trafficking, together with her husband, Amir Ali, Tofigh Mohammadfar, Hossein Zadegan and Eskandar Zadegan.

Jinat Damti Farid an Ethiopian housemaid, was beheaded in Taif Governorate of Saudi Arabia on Sunday the 10th of January for the murder of Ghaliah Bint Eidha Bin Saeed Al Harthi, by striking her with an axe on her head and back several times while she was praying, then taking two gold rings from her hand, and cash, the interior ministry said in a statement.

On the 17th of January, Somaliland executed 37 year old Ms Muna Mohamed Abdilahi and her 21 year old son Mohamed Ahmed Abdi by firing squad at Mandera maximum security prison in Sahil region. They were put to death for the brutal murder of Ruqiya Saeed Ayanle and burying her inside their house. The police said Ms Ayanle had been killed due to an argument over a debt she was owed. Abdule Hasan (male) was executed with them, also for murder.

Junko Yoshida, 56, was hanged at Japan’s Fukuoka Detention House, on Friday the 25th of March. She is the fifth woman to be executed Japan since 1950, the ministry said. Yoshida and three other former nurses in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, conspired to murder the husbands of two of the women between 1998 and 1999 in an attempt to receive insurance money. She was sentenced to death in 2004 by the Fukuoka District Court, and the sentence was finalized by the Supreme Court in 2010.

On the morning of Thursday April the 14th, 43-year-old Ameneh Rezaian was reportedly hanged at Kashmar Prison (located in the Razavi Khorasan province, northeastern Iran). She was arrested two years ago by Iranian authorities on charges of possession and trafficking of narcotics. On the same day two unnamed women and five men were hanged in a prison in Birjand, north-east Iran also on drug charges.

An unnamed woman convicted of large scale drug trafficking was hanged in Qazvin in Iran, alongside a man convicted of murder, on Friday the 3rd of June.

An unnamed woman convicted of drug trafficking was hanged in Iran’s Ghezelhesar prison, with 10 men, on Sunday the 17th of July 2016.

On Tuesday the 16th of August, 34 year old Huang Qingheng, was executed in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang province as the ringleader in a child trafficking gang. Children were smuggled from Vietnam to be sold in China, mainly in Guangdong Province, or pregnant Vietnamese women were sent to China and to sell their children after they were born. The rest of the gang drew prison sentences.

One woman and four men convicted of smuggling and drug trafficking and two other people who had been sentenced to death for murder were hanged in the prison of Yazd in Iran at dawn on Thursday the 25th of August.

An Ethiopian housemaid, who murdered the six-year-old daughter of her Saudi employer, was executed in Riyadh city on Monday the 26th of September.
Zamzam Abdullah Booraik was convicted of killing Lamees Bint Muhammad Al-Salman by slitting her throat with a kitchen knife and leaving the girl in the toilet until she breathed her last, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. The gruesome murder of Lamees that shook the entire Kingdom was committed in June 2013 in Hota Bani Tamim, 150 km south of Riyadh.
In December 2013, a court in Riyadh handed down the death verdict after the then 26-year-old maid confessed to killing Lamees to avenge her Saudi employer for his alleged mistreatment.

On the 29th of September, a woman identified as Molouk Noori was hanged in the prison of Orumiyeh in Iran’s Urmia province with seven men all convicted of drug offences.

China executed Li Xiuling on the 26th of October for the murder by strangling, of her neighbour’s five year old son. Apparently she was jealous that he was healthy, whereas her grandson had muscular dystrophy. She was presumably put to death by lethal injection and the execution took place in Henan Province.

2015 case details.

It has been reported that four unnamed women were hanged in Shahab prison in the city of Kerman (southern Iran) for drug offences on January the 1st. There has been no official confirmation of these executions.

Saudi Arabia beheaded Burmese born, Laila Bint Abdul Muttalib Basim, at Makkah on Monday the 12th of January after she was found guilty of the murder of her seven-year-old stepdaughter. She killed the child by beating her severely and inserting the stick of a broom into her genitals “without any mercy or compassion”.

Just after midnight on Saturday the 18th of January two women were executed for drug trafficking in Indonesia. They were among six convicts to face firing squads for drug offences. Indonesian born Rani Andriani, alias Melisa Aprilia, (age 38) was convicted of smuggling 3.5 kilograms of heroin and sentenced to death by the Tanggeran District Court on the 22nd of August 2000. She was executed at the maximum security Nusa Kambangan prison island along with four men and buried at Ciranjang, Cianjur, West Java, where she asked to be interred beside the grave of her mother.

37 year old Tran Bich Hanh from Vietnam was executed at 00.46 am. on Sunday the 18th of January in Boyolali, according to a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, Tony Spontana. She had asked authorities to let her face the firing squad un-cuffed. She was put to death at Boyolali, in Central Java, and afterwards her body cremated at Semarangs Kedungmundu crematorium early Sunday morning. She had been arrested at Adi Soemarmo in Boyolali while carrying 1.1 kilograms of methamphetamine in her body. Hanh was sentenced to death in November 2011.

Zhang Fan and her father, Zhang Lidong, who were members of the Almighty God cult, were put to death, presumably by lethal injection, on Monday the 2nd of February in Yantai City in China for beating a woman to death at a McDonald's restaurant in May 2014.

On the 4th of February Jordan hanged Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman militant in her mid forties, who had been sentenced to death for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed 60 people. The execution, that took place at Swaqa prison before dawn, was in response to the murder, by burning to death, of a Jordanian pilot captured by ISIS.

Marzieh Hossein Zehi was hanged with three men, Ali Barsalamat, Moradbakhsh Saboki and Ali Dashtestan, for drug related crimes, in Iran’s Kerman prison, on 25th of February 2015.

Saudi Arabia beheaded Siti Zainab Rupa on April 14th in Medinah for the murder of her employer, Nourah binti Abdullah Duhem. Two days later, 37 year old Karni Binti Medi Tarsim was beheaded. She had been convicted of killing her employer's four-year-old child. She was sentenced to death in March 2013.

On Tuesday the 12th of May, Batool A. was one of four prisoners were hanged in the prison of Arak (Central Iran) for drug trafficking.

An unnamed 32 year old woman was hanged on the 8th of June in Ghezelhesar prison, Karaj Iran, for the murder of her husband. It was reported that she took 14 seconds to become still after the stool was taken from under her.

On Monday the 13th of July, Alaa Bader al Hashemi, 30, was executed at dawn by firing squad in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for the stabbing murder of Iboyla Ryan, a 47-year-old nursery school teacher from Colorado. The crime took place in the women’s toilets in a shopping mall on the 1st of December 2014. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan approved the death sentence which was issued at the end of the trial on June 29th 2015. She was also charged with attempting to murder an American-Egyptian doctor by planting a bomb outside his apartment on the same day. She was convicted under Federal Law number 7 of 2014 which was enacted to combat terrorism.

On Wednesday the 29th of July, 43-year-old Pari-Dokht Molai-Far was hanged in the city of Karaj, in Alborz Province, Iran. It is thought that she had been convicted of murder, although this cannot be confirmed.

An unnamed woman was among a group of five prisoners hanged on Thursday the 30th of July for drug offences in Kerman, Iran.

On the 12th of August two women, Khuncha Hassan Ismaeil and Berivan Haider Karim and their shared husband Farhad Jaafar Mahmood were hanged in the Duhok region of Kurdistan, for abducting and murdering two schoolgirls in 2011 and 2012. Their victims were two 11-year-olds, Avan Haji and Havin Hasan, who were kidnapped in Zakho before being sexually abused and murdered.
These were the first judicial executions in the Kurdistan Region since a death penalty moratorium in 2008. As is usual in Iraq minimal details of the criminals or their executions were given.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner, 47, was put to death in the American state of Georgia in the early hours of Wednesday September 30th after various last ditch appeals. She was executed by lethal injection for persuading her boyfriend, Gregory Owen, to murder her husband, Doug on the 7th of February 1997. He was abducted from the family home at knife point by Owen and driven to a secluded spot where he was beaten and stabbed to death. Kelly Gissendaner was not present at the murder and went out with friends to give herself an alibi.

On Tuesday October 13, 2015, Iran hanged juvenile offender Fatemeh Salbehi in the Adelabad prison of Shiraz. Fatemeh was convicted of murdering her husband, when she was 17 years old. She had married Hamed Sadeghi (30) at the age of 16. In 2008 the body of Hamed was found in their home and Fatemeh who was a school girl at that time was charged with his murder.

On the 6th of December F. Znjanyan (no age given) was hanged in the prison of Qazvin in Iran for the murder of her husband. She and her lover had drugged him and then strangled him before burning the body on the roadside.

2014 case details.

During the week ending January 26, 2014, three prisoners including a women were hanged in the city of Delfan in Lorestan province of Iran for drug offences.

On Tuesday the 4th of March, 26 year old Farzaneh Moradi was hanged within the prison of Isfahan in Iran for the murder of her husband six years ago. She had stabbed him to death as he slept, apparently to be able to be with her new boyfriend, Saeed, whom she later blamed for the murder. In February 2014 she was given a one month stay of execution to give further time for negotiating a pardon with the victim’s family, which they ultimately refused.

A woman was hanged in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, Iran on Saturday the 10th of May, 2014. She was identified only as Behjat and was convicted of murdering her husband with the help of a man named Mohammad Jafari who had been hanged in the same prison 10 months previously. Her father in law and her two daughters reportedly witnessed the execution and her father in law pulled the support from under her.

A 28 year old woman identified only as “S. T.” was hanged in the prison of Amol in Northern Iran on Thursday morning, May the 28th 2014. She had been convicted of murdering her husband during a fight. Her mother in law pulled the chair from under her, having refused to pardon her.

On the 16th of June, three men and one woman convicted of murder and robbery were hanged in the prison of Assiut, in the first executions in Egypt since October 2011.

On the 4th of August Nepali maid, 26 year old Shoba Barreer, was beheaded in Arar city in Saudi Arabia. She was found guilty of murdering 2 year old Osama bin Moaidh bin Qaisom Al-Anzi, by slitting his throat, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

An unnamed woman was reportedly hanged alongside her juvenile son, Osman Dahmardeh, on the 9th of August in the prison of Zahedan, Iran for murder.

Three prisoners including an unnamed woman were hanged in the main prison of Zahedan in south-eastern Iran on drugs charges on the 22nd of August.

On the same day two unnamed women were executed by firing squad in Gaza for treason by collaborating/spying for Israel.

50-year-old Li Lijuan was executed, presumably by lethal injection on the 4th of September in east China's Zhejiang Province for starting a fire in a warehouse that killed three firefighters on the 1st of January 2013. Li started the fire using a lighter and boxes as revenge for a recent work adjustment, according to the court. The fire caused $9.7 million worth of damage.

A 60 year old woman and a 31 year old man were hanged in the prison of Rasht (Northern Iran) on the 11th of September. She had been convicted of participation in buying, possession, trafficking and distribution of 3198 grams of heroin.

An unnamed woman was reportedly hanged for murder on the 10th of September in Rajaeeshahr prison Iran, together with one man.

Lisa Ann Coleman (38) was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday the 17th of September at Huntsville Texas for the murder of 9 year old Davontae Williams, whom she and the boy’s mother had starved to death and abused over a long period in 2004. Marcella Williams is serving a life sentence for her part in the murder.

Two unnamed women and two men were hanged within the prison of Zahedan, Iran on the 20th of September for drug trafficking.

26 year old Reyhaneh Jabbari was hanged in the Rajaishahr prison of Karaj Iran at dawn on Saturday the 25th of October, reported the Iranian state media. She was sentenced to “qesas” (retribution in kind) for murdering 47 year old Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi in 2007, reported the state run Fars news agency. Reyhaneh had claimed that she stabbed Mr. Sarbandi in self defence when he attempted to rape her. Mr. Sarbandi died from a single stab wound to the back. His family refused to pardon Reyhaneh or accept blood money, both of which are permitted under Sharia law. Reyhaneh had received two stays of execution to allow more time for negotiations.

On Tuesday the 2nd of December a female prisoner identified as Marziye Ostavari and three male prisoners and were hanged in the prison of Urmia (Northwestern Iran) all having been convicted of drug trafficking. Also on this day 43 year old Akram Hosseini and her husband were among 11 prisoners hanged for drug offences in Karaj.

Ethiopian Khadija bint Mohammed Isa who stabbed a small Saudi girl 30 times in her sleep was beheaded by the sword on Tuesday the 9th of December Hafar al-Batin, northeast Saudi Arabia.

A woman identified only as F. Gh. Was hanged in the prison of Qazvin, Iran on the 10th of December for drug trafficking.

On the 25th of December a woman named only as Nahid was hanged in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, Iran for the murder of her husband in a failed suicide pact. She was executed alongside one man who was put to death for a separate murder.

2013 case details.
The first female execution of 2013 took place in Saudi Arabia’s Dawadmi province near Riyadh when Sri Lankan maid, Rizana Nafeek, was beheaded for the murder of her employer’s baby. According to her passport she was 23 at the time of the crime in 2005, although her supporters claimed she was 17. She was convicted of smothering the infant to death after an argument with the child’s mother. Nafeek had always maintained that the baby had choked to death while drinking from a bottle.

Two unnamed women were among a group of 6 prisoners hanged in Isfahan, Iran on Sunday the 27th of January 2013. All were executed for drug offences.

Parinaz. M was hanged in Adel Abad prison, Shiraz, Iran on the morning of 19/02/2013 together with 7 men, all for drug trafficking.

Iranian state broadcasting announced that four prisoners, including two women, were hanged in Kermanshah’s Dizelabad prison on the 22nd of April. The prisoners who were not identified by name were "major distributors of narcotic drugs in the area" and had been convicted of possession of 2000 grams of heroin and 25000 grams of opium.

25 year old Miss Ruqiyo Hasan Mahamed Yusuf was one of six prisoners executed by firing squad in Somalia’s Puntland region on the 30th of April. They had been convicted in February 2013 of conspiring to assassinate Dr. Abdirahman who was killed as he left a mosque in Bossaso in December 2011. A further seven men were executed for terrorist offences at the same time.

Giti Marami, age 34, was flogged and then hanged on the 22nd of May in Gharchak prison, Varamin, Iran. She had been on death row for 13 years as has her male co-defendant who is yet to be executed. It is thought that the flogging was imposed for adultery but details of the crimes committed by the pair are unclear.

On the 20th of June, Golafrooz Fayooj was one of four prisoners hanged in Shahr-e-Kord prison (western Iran). The group had been convicted of purchasing, possessing, and trafficking 4,534 grams of heroin.

Texas carried out its 500th execution on the 26th of June since resuming executions in 1982 (Charlie Brooks was the 1st).
Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy was put to death for the murder of her 71-year-old neighbor, was also the first woman executed in the U.S. in nearly three years and the 13th since Velma Barfield in 1984.
McCarthy, 52, had been convicted of the 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of retired college psychology professor Dorothy Booth. Booth had agreed to give McCarthy a cup of sugar before she was attacked with a butcher knife and candelabra at her home in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas. Authorities say McCarthy cut off Booth's finger to remove her wedding ring.
It was among three slayings linked to McCarthy, a former nursing home therapist who became addicted to crack cocaine. The other two cases were not proceeded with due to the enormous cost of capital cases in the USA.

China executed two women by lethal injection on two consecutive days, the 2nd and 3rd of July. Ma Xiuling was put to death on Tuesday the 2nd in Pingliang, north western China, for lacing her competitor farm’s milk output with nitrite. A one-month-old baby and two children under two died after drinking the poisoned milk. An unnamed 35 year old Filipina drug trafficker was executed on Wednesday the 3rd having been arrested with 6.198 kilos of heroin in her luggage at the Hangzhou International Airport on January 25, 2011. She was travelling from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates with her 27-year-old male cousin who was also caught carrying 6.171 kilos of heroin. The cousin’s death sentence was suspended for two years. It is thought that this was her eighteenth drugs run. Her family specifically requested that her name not be released.

11 unnamed prisoners, including 5 women, have been executed in Iran’s Zahedan central prison for drug trafficking. The group were placed in solitary confinement on July the 4th and hanged on Tuesday the 6th of July.

On the 19th of August two unnamed women were among a group of 17 prisoners hanged, all but one for terrorist crimes in Iraq.

An unnamed woman was hanged on the 9th of September in the Central Prison in the city of Orumieh, Iran, together with five men for drug trafficking.

Three women, S. H, Z. S. & N. S., were hanged in the prison yard of Yazd in Iran on Thursday the 19th of September, together with five men, all for drug offences.

On the 25th of September a further three unnamed women were executed in the Central Prison of Urmia in Iran, again together with five men, all for drug trafficking.
Two days later, Sydkhlyl Sadjadpour, age 43 was hanged for murder in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, Iran.

Iraq hanged an unnamed woman for terrorism during the seven day period up to 10/10.

26 year old Nastaran Safari was hanged on the 21st of October in Kermanshah prison together with six men, for a murder committed when she was 19.

Mitra Shahnavazi was hanged on the 30th of October in prison in the city of Karaj for the murder of a policeman 11 years ago. Apparently the motive for the crime was sexual.
The following day two unnamed women were hanged in the Central Prison of Urmia, for drug trafficking.

Six prisoners, among them two women who’s initials were given as A. A. and R. A., were hanged in the prison of Yazd (Central Iran), early Thursday morning, 21st of November. All had been convicted of drug trafficking.

Eleven prisoners, among them one unnamed woman, were hanged in the Ghezelhesar prison of Karaj in Iran on the 26th of November for drug offences.

2012 case details.
Two women were confirmed as having been hanged in Iraq during January 2012 but no further details were released by the Justice Ministry.

On the 10th of March two unnamed women were among a group of eight prisoners hanged in Zahedan in Iran for drug offences.

A.A. was among seven prisoners hanged on the 16th of May in Kermanshah, Iran for keeping and carrying 27 kilograms of heroin. No other details of her were released.

On an unspecified date in late May, Fang Ruifeng, 38, and Wu Yuling, 49, two villagers from Huilai's Qianzhan township were executed for producing fake banknotes worth 286 million yuan ($45.39 million) in Huilai county, in China’s Guangdong province, The counterfeit operation introduced about 140 million yuan of the forged notes into circulation, local police said.

An Egyptian brother and sister were beheaded in Medina, Saudi Arabia on the 19th of June for kidnapping and torturing a nine year old girl. Mohammed bin Nafe and his sister Jamalat bin Nafe imprisoned the girl in their house for 3 ½ years, with Mohammed repeatedly raping her. They planned to smuggle the unnamed little girl out if the country. They also neglected their own children which led to the deaths of two of them.

28 year old Safieh Ghafoori was hanged in Adel Abad prison in Shiraz, Iran early in the morning of 12th of July. Ghafoori was convicted of the 2006 murder of a young woman who she saw as a love rival.

48 year old Tabara Samba (Senegalese) was among a group of nine prisoners executed during the night of 27th of August in Gambia’s Mile II Central Prisons for the murder of her husband in March 2007. She was sentenced to death by hanging although according to official reports she was executed by firing squad.

On the 27th of August three unnamed women were among a group of 21 prisoners hanged for terrorist crimes in Iraq.

65 year old Sachiko Eto was hanged on the 27th of September at the Sendai Branch Detention House in northeastern Japan. She was a faith healer who beat six followers to death during "exorcism" rituals in Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, in 1994 and 1995. Two of the victims were male. Eto ordered the beatings, and took part in them with her followers. Eto’s daughter and another member of the cult were also given life sentences for their parts in the murders.

An unnamed woman was hanged in the prison of Kermanshah, Iran, together with two men on Monday the 3rd of December. All three had been convicted of drug trafficking.

On the 3rd of December Yemen executed by shooting Hind al-Barti at the central prison in the capital, Sanaa, for a murder of another girl committed about seven years ago when she was just 15 years old.

2011 case details.
On Saturday the 28th of January 46 year old Zahra Bahrami was hanged in Tehran’s Evin prison having been convicted of "selling and possessing drugs", the Tehran prosecutor's office said in a statement, adding that she had been arrested for "security crimes" in December 2009 after participating in anti-government protests while visiting relatives in Tehran.

On the 14th of March Adiva Mirza Soleyman Kalimia and her husband Varjan Petrosian were reportedly hanged in Tehran’s Evin prison in Iran although it is not clear on what charges. A further two unidentified men and one women were executed with them.

Filipinos, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, and Elizabeth Batain were put to death by lethal injection on the 29th of March. Elizabeth Batain, 38, was executed at a prison in the southern city of Shenzhen. Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, 32, was executed with Ramon Credo in the port city of Xiamen. They were the first Filipinos to be executed in China for drug trafficking, Philippine officials said.

26 year old Mao Ran who had been convicted of organising large-scale drug trafficking at China’s Xiamen International Airport was executed in Xiamen on Wednesday the 13th of April, probably by lethal injection.

On the 13th of May two young women were hanged in Sudan for stoning a child to death in the Al-Azhari area of Khartoum in revenge over a dispute with the child's mother, according to a BBC report.

They were sentenced to death by the Hay al-Nasr criminal court under article 130 of the penal code.

Indonesian Ruyati Binti Sapubi, 54, was beheaded in Mecca on Saturday the 18th of June for murdering a Saudi woman, Khairiya bint Hamid Mijlid, by striking her repeatedly on the head with a meat cleaver and stabbing her in the neck. It is thought that she was Mijlid’s maid.

Begam N. who had been convicted of trafficking 555 grams of heroin was hanged within prison in the city of Rafsanjan in Iran along with fellow trafficker Khodadad M. (male) on Thursday July20th.

29 year old Leila Hayati was hanged for drug trafficking on September the 28th in Hamedan. On October the 5th, 32 year old Roghiyeh Khalaj and 35 year old Horiyeh Sabahi were hanged there also for drug trafficking.

On the 12th October Suad bint Hosni al-Enzi and her sister Muna were beheaded in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh for the murder of Namsha bint Khozaim al-Enzi after breaking into her house. Suad bint Hosni al-Enzi stabbed the victim to death while Muna held the woman’s daughter to prevent her from assisting her mother.

A Saudi woman, Ghazala bint Nasser al-Balawi was beheaded in Riyadh on Wednesday 19th of October, having been convicted of burning her husband, Ali al-Shehri, to death by pouring petrol into his house and setting it on fire whilst he was asleep.

Luo Yaping, a Chinese government official in Liaoning province was executed on the 9th of November for massive embezzlement of public funds amounting to 32.39 million yuan (US$5.14 million). The Intermediate People's Court of Shenyang, capital of Liaoning, sentenced her to death in December 2010 and the provincial court upheld the verdict in June 2011 after she appealed. The media dubbed her the "land ma'am".

An unnamed woman was one of eleven people reported hanged in Iraq on terrorism charges on the 17th of November.

An unidentified woman was among six criminals hanged for drug offences in Iran on the 29th of November in Kermanshah.

Wang Ziqi was executed by lethal injection in the Chinese city of Chongqing on the 7th of December for forcing more than 300 women into prostitution between 1994 and 2009. Seven of these women died in suspicious circumstances.

South African born 38 year old Janice Bronwyn Linden was executed by lethal injection on the 12th of December in China. She was arrested in November 2008 for possession of 3kg of methamphetamine on her arrival at the airport in the southern city of Guangzhou.
On the same day Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar was beheaded in the northern Saudi Arabian province of Jawf for "practising witchcraft and sorcery," the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by SPA, the state news agency.

On Tuesday the 13th of December China executed Yang Jufen who was the mistress of gang leader Jiang Jiatian (also executed), and another gang member, Xie Mingxiang. Jiang made a fortune from drug trafficking in the mid-1990s and invested his earnings in at least 10 teahouses, Internet cafes and hotels in Kunming. He organized a gang of 41 members and nearly all of his businesses were used as dens for prostitution, extortion, racketeering, and the sale of drugs and counterfeit banknotes.

On the 24th of December a woman identified only as Nahid A. was among seven prisoners hanged for drug offences in the north western Iranian town of Oroumieh.

Three women were confirmed as having been hanged in Iraq during 2011 by the Iraqi Justice Ministry but names, dates and crime details were not given.

2010 case details (6 executions).
Jihan Mohammed Ali was hanged in Egypt’s Giza prison on the 10th of March for the murder of her husband in 2004. Her co defendant, Atef Rohyum Abd El Al Rohyum was hanged in Isti’naf prison on the same day. Jihan had stated she acted alone in killing her husband and that Atef had done no more than help her move the body. She claimed that she had acted in self defence as her husband was beating her.

Kurdish born Shirin Alamhouli (age 28) was hanged with four men in Tehran’s Evin prison on Sunday the 9th of May for planting a bomb under a car in a Tehran parking lot belonging to the elite Revolutionary Guards. All five were members of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK).

Thursday the 23rd of September saw the first US female execution for five years, that of 41 year old Teresa Lewis at the Greensville Correctional Centre in Virginia. Lewis hired two men, Matthew Shallenberger (who later became her lover) and Rodney Fuller to murder her husband Julian and stepson Charles, known as CJ, for a $250,000 life insurance which she would receive if they both died. The crime was committed in the family trailer on the 30th of October 2002, both victims being killed by shotgun blasts. Lewis pleaded guilty at her trial and was put to death by lethal injection at 9pm having lost her appeals and been denied clemency by the State Governor. Shallenberger and Fuller both got life sentences in separate trials although Shallenberger later committed suicide in prison.

Iran hanged an unnamed woman and three men on Sunday the 10th of October 2010 in a prison in the north western city of Zanjan after they were found guilty of drug trafficking, the Fars news agency reported.

Shahla Jahed (age 40) was hanged in Tehran’s Evin prison at 5.00 am on Wednesday the 1st of December for the 2002 murder of her football star boyfriend’s wife, Laleh Saharkhizan, in 2002. Members of Laleh Saharkhizan’s family were present at the execution and it is reported that her son removed the bench from under Shahla Jahed’s feet leaving her suspended. Her murder conviction had been overturned in 2008 but was re-instated the following year. Shahla maintained her innocence throughout. The case gripped Iran as Nasser Mohammed Khani was a famous football player who had taken Shahla as a temporary wife.

On Sunday the 19th of December Iran hanged Mahin Qadiri, a female serial killer, in the central city of Qazvin. She had been convicted of murdering five middle-aged women between February 2008 and May 2009 and stealing from them for which she received 74 lashes. Reportedly she rendered them unconscious before strangling them.

2009 case details (19 executions).
33 year old Masoumeh Ghale Jahi was hanged in the Iranian prison of Rafsanjan on January the 29th 2009, for the murder of her husband nine years previously. She claimed that the killing was accidental.
A'isha Al-Hamzi, a 40 year old Saudi born mother of seven, was executed by machine gun in the Central 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 Bin Hamdan al-Shammari was executed by shooting in the north western 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 in Iran 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, 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 eight 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.

On Wednesday the 29th July a woman identified only as Jamileh, aged 25 and one man were hanged in the prison of Shiraz (southern Iran) early, reported the Iranian daily Etemad. She had been convicted of murdering her husband in 2004.

44 year old beauty parlour 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 Iranian city of Esfahan for drug trafficking together with two men, Vahid Sh., Rasoul T.

It was reported on the 14th of December that Zhao Qingmei, a school teacher, has been executed in China’s Guizhou province for forcing 22 pupils, some as young as six, and an older girl into prostitution between March and June 2006. Zhao was also convicted of aiding her husband in the rape of a child.

2008 case details. (up to 30 executions)
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 eight 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 travelling 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. She 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 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.

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 jewellery 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 south eastern 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.
Liu Yibing and her former boss, Zhou Limin a branch manager at the China Construction Bank, were executed, probably 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 together with Zhu Yaqi, a hitman, for the murder of Wang’s former lover, Wang Xiaoli and her daughter. 
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 eight 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 by lethal injection 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)

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 Iranian city 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 Hubei Province, 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 was hanged for drug trafficking at Singapore’s 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 Qazvin 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 five 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 of 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 four 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 five 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. (8 executions)
At least eight women were reported to have been executed in this year. They were :- Yuan Xiuzhen, a 46-year-old woman, who together with three 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.
Four women were shot for drug trafficking at Wuhan, in central China on the 25th of June. They were 25 year old He Xiuling, 49-year-old Ma Qingxui, Li Juhua and Dai Donggui.
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 put to death 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 five 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 four 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 south western 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 nine 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 Chinese Academy 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. Major fraud and embezzlement are punishable by 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 four 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 five 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.
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 south western 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 three 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 three 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.

2000 case details (6 executions)
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.
Amidst considerable international outcry, Nguyen Thi Hiep, who had dual Canadian/Vietnamese nationality, was shot by a police firing squad on the 25th of April 2000, in Hanoi, Vietnam after being found guilty of trafficking in heroin in 1996.
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.
Warani Samiran Awdi (Indonesian) was beheaded for murder in Saudi Arabia on the 19th of June 2000.
Pakistani national, Mokhtiyara Khadem Hussein was executed for drug offences in Saudi Arabia on the 18th of July 2000.
Egypt hanged Saleh Mansour Hashem on the 10th of September 2000 for murder. A British style noose and measured drop are used and executions are carried out in private.

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.
America, Botswana, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Sudan have all carried out death sentences for murder in the 21st century.
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. India has three condemned women in its prisons who face death by hanging, if their executions proceed.

At least three 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.

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. 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 family/domestic murders, which are often perceived as less serious.

Back to Contents page Female executions in the later 20th century Female hangings 1988 to date