Capital punishment in Hong Kong
Capital punishment in Hong Kong was formally abolished on 23 April 1993 by virtue of the Crimes Ordinance. Before then, capital punishment was the usual sentence given since the establishment of the Crown Colony of Hong Kong for offences such as murder, kidnapping ending in death, and piracy.
The last execution in Hong Kong was carried out on 16 November 1966 when Wong Kai-Kei, age 26, was hanged at Stanley Prison. Following this, the death penalty was suspended. One of the reasons was that the United Kingdom had begun the process of abolishing capital punishment in 1965, with the last two executions carried out in 1964 and final abolition completed in 1998.
The Governor of Hong Kong would as a matter of course commute the sentences of those convicted under the death penalty to life imprisonment under the Royal prerogative of mercy. In April 1993, capital punishment was officially abolished in Hong Kong. Since then, life imprisonment has been the most severe punishment in Hong Kong.
Under the principle of independence of legal system in Hong Kong Basic Law, Hong Kong has continued its repudiation of capital punishment after its handover to the People's Republic of China despite the fact that capital punishment is still effectively carried out in Mainland China.
