World’s most brutal execution methods still in use after controversial nitrogen death

History has seen humans use some truly awful ways for someone to be killed for committing a crime.

It could be burning religious heretics alive, which would ensure that there were no remains of the victim's body for followers to claim as relics.

Or perhaps scaphism where the victim was sealed in a wooden box and fed milk and honey, meaning that over time the diarrhoea this caused would draw in insects.

History might have some gruesome methods, but there are still plenty of horrible and ghoulishly inventive ways for a person to be officially killed as punishment for a crime that are in use today.

These are a few of the horrifying execution methods which are still in use in 2024.

We'll start with hanging, one of the longest-serving and widely-used methods of execution which is still in use.

There are two forms of hanging, one being 'long drop hanging', which was invented as a means of killing someone more quickly.

When someone is hanged from a short drop, they will strangle in a slower death.

Chase Swift / Getty

The purpose of long drop hanging was to try to increase the rate at which prisoners' necks break, which in theory would mean a quicker death.

In practice, however, this has often made for botched executions.

The second form of hanging could be viewed as the opposite, 'crane hanging'. Here there is no drop at all as the victim is lifted up by their neck by a crane, making strangulation almost certain to be how they die.

Hanging is still used in Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Singapore, South Korea, Pakistan, India, and the USA.

Another way which is also used in the USA is execution by gas chamber. The victim is put into a sealed chamber which is then filled with a toxic gas. A variation of this method also involves killing the victim by making them only breathe nitrogen.

Execution by gas chamber has been described as 'cruel and unusual' in California.

Paul Harris/Getty Images

A method which is still used in some parts of the world is death by stoning. This is a particularly slow way to die, as the victim is bludgeoned to death by stones over an extended period of time.

A quicker method is used in North Korea, where the victim is simply shot with an anti-aircraft gun.

China also executes a lot of people every year, with lethal injection or firing squad being common methods of execution.

Executions can often take place inside so-called 'death vans'. These are driven out to a secluded area where the victim is killed.

Alarmingly, there have also been reports from Amnesty International which have claimed that execution victims' organs are harvested following their death.

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