Africa Congo In the
Democratic Republic of Congo, the conflict and ethnic massacre between local army and
Kamuina Nsapu rebels has caused several deaths and atrocities such as rape and mutilation. One of them is decapitation, both a fearsome way to intimidate victims as well as an act that may include ritualistic elements. According to a UN report from Congolese refugees, they believed the
Bana Mura and Kamuina Nsapu militias have "magical powers" as a result of drinking the blood of decapitated victims, making them invincible. Besides the massive decapitations (like the beheading of 40 members of the State Police), a globally notorious case happened in March 2017 to Swedish politician
Zaida Catalán and American UN expert Michael Sharp, who were kidnapped and executed during a mission near the village of Ngombe in
Kasaï Province. The UN was reportedly horrified when video footage of the executions surfaced in April that same year, where some grisly details led to assume ritual components of the beheading: the perpetrators first cut the hair of both victims, and then one of them beheaded Catalán only, because it would "increase his power", which may be linked to the fact that Congolese militias are particularly brutal in their acts of violence toward women and children. In the trial that followed investigations after the bodies were discovered, and according to a testimony of a primary school teacher from Bunkonde, near the village of Moyo Musuila where the executions took place, he witnessed a teenage militant carrying the young woman's head, but despite the efforts of the investigation, the head was never found. According to a report published on 29 May 2019, the Monusco peacekeeping military mission led by Colonel Luis Mangini, in the search for the missing remains, arrived to a ritual place in Moyo Musila where "parts of bodies, hands and heads" were cut and used for rituals, where they lost track of the victim's head.
Asia Azerbaijan During the
2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes, Yazidi-Armenian serviceman
Kyaram Sloyan was decapitated by Azerbaijani servicemen. Several reports of decapitation, along with other types of mutilation of Armenian POWs by Azerbaijani soldiers, emerged in 2020 during the
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
China ,
Beijing, China, 1905 In traditional
China, decapitation was considered a more severe form of punishment than
strangulation, although strangulation caused more prolonged suffering. This was because in
Confucian tradition, a person's body was a gift from their parents, and so it was therefore disrespectful to their ancestors to return their bodies to the grave dismembered. The Chinese, however, had other punishments, such as dismembering the body into multiple pieces (similar to the English
quartering). In addition, there was also a practice of
cutting the body at the waist, which was a common method of execution before being abolished in the early
Qing dynasty due to the lingering death it caused. In some tales, people did not die immediately after decapitation.
India The British officer
John Masters recorded in his autobiography that
Pathans in British India during the
Anglo-Afghan Wars would behead enemy soldiers who were captured, such as British and Sikh soldiers. The
Execution of Sambhaji was a significant event in 17th-century
Deccan India, where the second
Maratha King was put to death by order of the
Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The conflicts between the
Mughals and the
Deccan Sultanates, which resulted in the downfall of the Sultanates, paved the way for tensions between the Marathas and the Mughals. Aurangzeb was drawn to Southern India due to the vanquished rebel
Akbar fleeing to the Maratha monarch,
Sambhaji. The Maratha King was then captured by the Mughal general
Muqarrab Khan. Sambhaji and his minister
Kavi Kalash were then taken to
Tulapur, where they were tortured to death.
Japan , an Australian
POW captured in New Guinea, about to be beheaded by a Japanese soldier with a
shin guntō sword, 1943 In
Japan, decapitation was a common punishment, sometimes for minor offences.
Samurai were often allowed to decapitate soldiers who had fled from battle, as it was considered cowardly. Decapitation was historically performed as the second step in
seppuku (ritual
suicide by
disembowelment). After the victim had sliced his own
abdomen open, another warrior would strike his head off from behind with a
katana to hasten death and to reduce the suffering. The blow was expected to be precise enough to leave intact a small strip of skin at the front of the neck—to spare invited and honored guests the indelicacy of witnessing a severed head rolling about, or towards them; such an occurrence would have been considered inelegant and in bad taste. The sword was expected to be used upon the slightest sign that the practitioner might yield to pain and cry out—avoiding dishonor to him and to all partaking in the privilege of observing an honorable demise. As skill was involved, only the most trusted warrior was honored by taking part. In the late
Sengoku period, decapitation was performed as soon as the person chosen to carry out seppuku had made the slightest wound to his abdomen. Decapitation (without seppuku) was also considered a very severe and degrading form of punishment. One of the most brutal decapitations was that of (杉谷善住坊), who attempted to assassinate
Oda Nobunaga, a prominent
daimyō, in 1570. After being caught, Zenjubō was buried alive in the ground with only his head out, and the head was slowly sawn off with a bamboo saw by passers-by for several days (punishment by sawing; (). These unusual punishments were abolished in the early
Meiji era. A similar scene is described in the last page of James Clavell's novel
Shōgun.
Korea Historically, decapitation had been the most common method of execution in Korea, until it was replaced by
hanging in 1896. Professional executioners were called (망나니) and they were volunteered from death rows.
Thailand Decapitation was the main method of
execution in Thailand, until it was replaced by
shooting in 1934.
Vietnam in the book
Mechanics and Crafts of the People of Annam ,
South Vietnam Execution by beheading was one of the most common forms of execution in Vietnam under the feudal system. This form of execution still existed in the
South Vietnam regime until 1962.
Europe Bosnia and Herzegovina During the
war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995) there were a number of ritual beheadings of Serbs and Croats who were taken as prisoners of war by
mujahideen members of the
Bosnian Army. At least one case is documented and proven in court by the
ICTY where mujahedin, members of 3rd Corps of Army BiH, beheaded
Bosnian Serb Dragan Popović.
Britain of
King Charles I In
British history, beheading was typically used for noblemen, while commoners would be hanged; eventually, hanging was adopted as the standard means of non-military executions. The last actual execution by beheading was of
Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat on 9 April 1747, while a number of convicts were beheaded posthumously up to the early 19th century. (Typically traitors were sentenced to be
hanged, drawn and quartered, a method which had already been discontinued.) Beheading was degraded to a secondary means of execution, including for treason, with the abolition of drawing and quartering
in 1870; it was finally abolished by the
Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1973. One of the most notable executions by decapitation in Britain was that of
King Charles I of England, who was
beheaded outside the
Banqueting House in
Whitehall in 1649, after being captured by
parliamentarians during the
English Civil War and
tried for treason. In England, a
bearded axe was used for beheading, with the blade's edge extending downwards from the tip of the shaft.
Celts The
Celts of western Europe long pursued a
"cult of the severed head", as evidenced by both Classical literary descriptions and archaeological contexts. This cult played a central role in their temples and religious practices and earned them a reputation as
head hunters among the Mediterranean peoples.
Diodorus Siculus, in his 1st-century
Historical Library (5.29.4) wrote the following about Celtic head-hunting: Both the Greeks and Romans found the Celtic decapitation practices shocking and the latter put an end to them when Celtic regions came under their control. , Irish, 1st or 2nd century AD According to
Paul Jacobsthal, "Amongst the Celts the
human head was venerated above all else, since the head was to the Celt the soul, centre of the emotions as well as of life itself, a symbol of divinity and of the powers of the other-world." Arguments for a Celtic cult of the severed head include the many sculptured representations of severed heads in La Tène carvings, and the surviving Celtic mythology, which is full of stories of the severed heads of heroes and the saints who
carry their own severed heads, right down to
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where the
Green Knight picks up his own severed head after Gawain has struck it off in a
beheading game, just as
Saint Denis carried his head to the top of
Montmartre. A further example of this regeneration after beheading lies in the tales of
Connemara's
Saint Féchín, who after being beheaded by
Vikings carried his head to the Holy Well on
Omey Island and on dipping it into the well placed it back upon his neck and was restored to full health.
Classical antiquity by
Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld, 1860 The ancient Greeks and Romans regarded decapitation as a comparatively honorable form of execution for criminals. The traditional procedure, however, included first being tied to a stake and whipped with rods. Axes were used by the Romans, and later swords, which were considered a more honorable instrument of death. Those who could verify that they were Roman citizens were to be beheaded, rather than undergoing
crucifixion. In the
Roman Republic of the early 1st century BC, it became the tradition for the severed heads of public enemies—such as the political opponents of
Marius and
Sulla—to be publicly displayed on the
Rostra in the
Forum Romanum after execution. Perhaps the most famous beheading was that of
Cicero who, on instructions from
Mark Antony, had his hands (which had penned the
Philippicae against Antony) and his head cut off and nailed up for display in this manner. Archaeological evidence of Roman-period executions by decapitation has also been found in the provinces. In
Israel, seven cases of decapitation have been discovered, all dating to the Roman period and involving Jewish individuals. An additional case, uncovered in
Jerusalem, appears to date from the early 1st century BCE and may be linked to the
Judean Civil War during the reign of
Alexander Jannaeus. Throughout its extensive
overseas colonies and dependencies, the device was also used, including on
St Pierre in 1889 and on
Martinique as late as 1965.
Nordic countries In
Nordic countries, decapitation was the usual means of carrying out capital punishment. Noblemen were beheaded with a
sword, and commoners with an
axe. The last executions by decapitation in
Finland in 1825,
Norway in 1876,
Faroe Islands in 1609, and in
Iceland in 1830 were carried out with axes. The same was the case in
Denmark in 1892.
Sweden continued the practice for a few decades, executing its second to last criminal—mass murderer
Johan Filip Nordlund—by axe in 1900. It was replaced by the guillotine, which was used for the first and only time on
Johan Alfred Ander in 1910.
Finland's official beheading axe resides today at the Museum of Crime in
Vantaa. It is a broad-bladed two-handed axe. It was last used when murderer
Tahvo Putkonen was executed in 1825, the last execution in peacetime in Finland.
Spain . Painting by José María Rodríguez de Losada (1826–1896). In Spain executions were carried out by various methods including strangulation by the
garrotte. In the 16th and 17th centuries, noblemen were sometimes executed by means of beheading. Examples include
Anthony van Stralen, Lord of Merksem,
Lamoral, Count of Egmont and
Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horn. They were tied to a chair on a scaffold. The executioner used a knife to cut the head from the body. It was considered to be a more honourable death if the executioner started with cutting the throat.
Middle East Iran Iran, since the 1979
Islamic Revolution, has alleged it uses beheading as one of the methods of punishment.
Iraq Though not officially sanctioned, legal beheadings were carried out against at least 50 prostitutes and pimps under
Saddam Hussein as late as 2000. Beheadings have emerged as another
terror tactic especially in Iraq since 2003. Civilians have borne the brunt of the beheadings, although U.S. and Iraqi military personnel have also been targeted. After kidnapping the victim, the kidnappers typically make some sort of demand of the government of the hostage's nation and give a time limit for the demand to be carried out, often 72 hours. Beheading is often threatened if the government fails to heed the wishes of the hostage takers. Sometimes, the
beheadings are videotaped and made available on the Internet. One of the most publicized of such executions was that of
Nick Berg. Judicial execution is practiced in Iraq, but is generally carried out by
hanging.
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia has a criminal justice system based on
Shari'ah law reflecting a particular state-sanctioned interpretation of Islam. Crimes such as rape, murder, apostasy, and sorcery are punishable by beheading. It is usually carried out
publicly by beheading with a sword. A public beheading will typically take place around 9am. The convicted person is walked into the square and kneels in front of the executioner. The executioner uses a sword to remove the condemned person's head from their body at the neck with a single strike. After the convicted person is pronounced dead, a police official announces the crimes committed by the beheaded alleged criminal and the process is complete. The official might announce the same before the actual execution. This is the most common method of execution in Saudi Arabia. According to
Amnesty International, at least 79 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2013. Foreigners are not exempt, accounting for "almost half" of executions in 2013. Syrian rebels attempting to overthrow the Syrian government have been implicated in beheadings too.
North America Mexico , Mexico
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla,
Ignacio Allende,
José Mariano Jiménez and
Juan Aldama were tried for treason, executed by
firing squad and beheaded during the Mexican independence in 1811. Their heads were on display on the four corners of the
Alhóndiga de Granaditas, in
Guanajuato. During the
Mexican drug war, some Mexican drug cartels turned to decapitation and beheading of rival cartel members as a method of intimidation. This trend of beheading and publicly displaying the decapitated bodies was started by the
Los Zetas, a criminal group composed by former Mexican special forces operators, trained in the infamous
US Army School of the Americas, in
torture techniques and
psychological warfare.
United States The United States government has never employed beheading as a legal method of execution. However, beheading has sometimes been used in mutilations of the dead, particularly during the time of slavery, such as
Nat Turner, who led a rebellion against slavery. When caught, he was publicly hanged, flayed, and beheaded. This was a technique used by many enslavers to discourage the "frequent bloody uprisings" that were carried out by "kidnapped Africans". While bodily dismemberment of various kinds was employed to instill terror, Dr. Erasmus D. Fenner noted postmortem decapitation was particularly effective. During the
Vietnam War, as a terror tactic, "some American troops hacked the heads off... dead [Vietnamese] and mounted them on pikes or poles". Correspondent Michael Herr noted "thousands" of photo-albums made by US soldiers "all seemed to contain the same pictures": "the severed head shot, the head often resting on the chest of the dead man or being held up by a smiling Marine, or a lot of the heads, arranged in a row, with a burning cigarette in each of the mouths, the eyes open". Some of the victims were "very young". General
George Patton IV, son of the famous WWII general
George S. Patton, was known for keeping "macabre souvenirs", such as "a Vietnamese skull that sat on his desk." Other Americans "hacked the heads off Vietnamese to keep, trade, or exchange for prizes offered by commanders." Although the
Utah Territory permitted a person sentenced to death to choose beheading as a means of execution, no person chose that option, and it was dropped when
Utah became a state. In July 2025,
Florida enacted legislation that further expands the state's already extensive capital punishment laws to allow "any execution method not explicitly deemed unconstitutional," which includes beheading. This makes the United States the only country outside of the Islamic world that currently allows executions via beheading. == Notable people who have been beheaded ==