Thailand
Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Overview
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In 2018, Thailand drew international shock
and dismay when it carried out its rst
execution since 2009. About to become de
facto abolitionist, a status granted to
countries that have not carried out any
executions for 10 consecutive years, Thailand
executed Theerasak Longji, a 26-year-old
Thai national, by lethal injection. Before 2009,
no executions had been carried out since
2003 when Thailand abolished shooting and
adopted lethal injection as the sole means of
execution (Amnesty International 2021).
Amnesty International’s Global Report on
Death Sentences and Executions estimates
that 158 individuals were on death row in
2021, down from 551 in 2018 (World
Coalition Against the Death Penalty 2021)
after King Maha Vajiralongkorn Badinthep
Thearawangkun granted pardons on two
separate occasions in 2020, which
signi cantly lowered the number of people
under sentence of death in the country. Since
then, however, the International Federation
for Human Rights (2023) estimated a 14%
increase in the number of prisoners on death
row, as well as a 2.8% increase of foreign
prisoners (not all of whom are under
sentence of death).
Thailand retains the death penalty for some
63 offences (an increase from 55 in 2014);
many of these are ‘ordinary crimes’, not
meeting the threshold of most serious crimes
which international law states the use of the
death penalty must be restricted to in
retentionist countries (Amnesty International
2018). Offences include, but are not limited
to, treason, drug-traf cking, murder, aircraft
hijacking and possessing illegal weapons.
Drug-related offences account for the
majority of crimes for which death sentences
are imposed. The International Federation for
Human Rights (2023) estimated a 14%
increase in the number of prisoners under a