List of assassinated human rights activists
Appearance
This is a list of murdered political dissidents and human rights activists.The list is chronological.
Intended Victims | Year | Date | Title at the Time | Place | Country | Assassin(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elijah Parish Lovejoy | 1837 | November 7 | American journalist, newspaper editor and abolitionist. | Alton, Illinois | United States | mob |
Abraham Lincoln | 1865 | April 15 | President of the United States | Washington, D.C. | United States | John Wilkes Booth |
Francisco I. Madero | 1913 | 22 February | President of Mexico | Mexico City | Mexico | Victoriano Huerta |
Song Jiaoren | 1913 | 22 March | Chinese republican leader of Kuomintang | Shanghai | China | Wu Shiying |
Jean Jaurès | 1914 | 31 July | French Marxist anti-war activist | Paris | France | Raoul Villain |
John Chilembwe | 1915 | February 3 | Malawian philosopher and educator | Shire Highlands | Nyasaland | British colonial officers |
Leo Jogiches | 1919 | 10 March | German Marxist revolutionary | Berlin | Germany | Freikorps |
Karl Liebknecht | 1919 | 15 January | German Revolutionary | Berlin | Germany | Freikorps |
Rosa Luxemburg | 1919 | 15 January | Polish-German Revolutionary | Berlin | Germany | Freikorps |
Charlemagne Péralte | 1919 | 1 November | Haitian nationalist leader | Port-au-Prince | Haiti | U.S. Marines |
Emiliano Zapata | 1919 | 10 April | Mexican peasant leader | Chinameca | Mexico | Jesús Guajardo |
Mustafa Suphi | 1921 | 28 January | Turkish communist leader. | Black Sea | Turkey | Turkish agents |
Michael Collins | 1922 | 22 August | Irish independence leader | Béal na Bláth | Ireland | Irish Civil War. |
Giacomo Matteotti | 1924 | 10 June 1924 | Italian anti-fascist | Rome | Italy | Blackshirts |
Avni Rustemi | 1924 | 22 April | Albanian teacher, activist | Tirana | Albania | Jusuf Reçi |
Takiji Kobayashi | 1933 | February 20 | Japanese author | Tokyo | Japan | police |
Augusto César Sandino | 1934 | 21 February 1 | Nicaraguan revolutionary | Managua | Nicaragua | United States Marine Corps |
Antonio Guiteras | 1935 | 8 May | Cuban politician | Matanzas | Cuba | Cuban government |
Walter W. Liggett | 1935 | December 9 | American journalist | Minneapolis, Minnesota | United States | Blumenfeld |
Abdul Rahman Shahbandar | 1940 | June | Syrian nationalist | Damascus | Syria | National Bloc members |
Leon Trotsky | 1940 | 21 August | Soviet dissident | Coyoacán, Mexico City | Mexico | Ramón Mercader |
Marx Dormoy | 1941 | 26 July | French socialist politician | Montélimar | France | Comité secret d'action révolutionnaire |
Carlo Tresca | 1943 | January 11 | American newspaper editor | New York City | United States | NKVD |
Mahatma Gandhi | 1948 | 30 January | Indian independence movement leader | New Delhi | India | Nathuram Godse |
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán | 1948 | April 9 | Mayors of Bogotá | Bogotá | Colombia | El Bogotazo |
Julien Lahaut | 1950 | 18 August | Belgian Republican politician . | Seraing | Belgium | François Goossens |
Leonardo Ruiz Pineda | 1952 | 21 October | Venezuelan lawyer | Caracas | Venezuela | police |
Albert Patterson | 1954 | June 18 | American attorney | Phenix City, Alabama | United States | Sheriff Albert Fuller |
Ali Boumendjel | 1957 | March 23 | Algerian militant and lawyer. | El Biar | French Algeria | Paul Aussaresses |
Maurice Audin | 1957 | 11 June | Algerian student | Algiers | French Algeria | André Charbonnier |
Ruben Um Nyobé | 1958 | 13 September | Cameroonian anti-colonialist | Boumnyébel | Cameroon | French army |
Inejiro Asanuma | 1960 | 12 October | Japanese socialist politician | Tokyo | Japan | Otoya Yamaguchi |
Salah Ben Youssef | 1961 | 12 August | Tunisian lawyer and politician | Frankfurt | West Germany | Tunisian agents |
Mouloud Feraoun | 1962 | 15 March | Algerian journalist, translator | Algiers | Algeria | OAS |
Grigoris Lambrakis | 1963 | 27 May | Greek anti-war activist | Thessaloniki | Greece | Emannouel Emannouilides and Spyros Gotzamanis |
Medgar Evers | 1963 | June 12 | American civil rights activist | Jackson, Mississippi | United States | Byron De La Beckwith |
James Chaney | 1964 | June 21 | American civil rights | Mississippi | United States | Ku Klux Klan |
Andrew Goodman | 1964 | June 21 | American civil rights activist | Mississippi | United States | Ku Klux Klan |
Michael Schwerner | 1964 | June 21 | American civil rights activist | Philadelphia, Mississippi | United States | Ku Klux Klan. |
Mehdi Ben Barka | 1965 | 29 October | Moroccan revolutionary fighter and politician. | Paris | France | French intelligence agents |
Malcolm X | 1965 | February 21, | American human rights activist | New York City | United States | members of the Nation of Islam |
Pio Gama Pinto | 1965 | February 24 | Kenyan journalist | Nairobi | Kenya | police |
Humberto Delgado | 1965 | 13 February | Portuguese anti-fascists | Olivenza | Spain | PIDE |
Viola Liuzzo | 1965 | March 25 | American civil rights activist | Selma, Alabama | United States | Ku Klux Klan |
Jonathan Daniels | 1965 | August 20 | American civil rights activist. | Hayneville, Alabama | United States | Tom Coleman |
Osende Afana | 1966 | 15 March | Cameroonian economist | Ndélélé, | Cameroon | Cameroonian Armed Forces |
Chit Phumisak | 1966 | 5 May | Thai Marxist historians | Waritchaphum | Thailand | local villagers |
Robert W. Spike | 1966 | October 17 | American civil rights | Columbus, Ohio | United States | unknown |
Benno Ohnesorg | 1967 | June 2 | German anti-war activist | West Berlin | West Germany | Karl-Heinz Kurras |
Martin Luther King, Jr. | 1968 | April 4 | American civil rights activist | Memphis, Tennessee | United States | James Earl Ray |
Robert F. Kennedy | 1968 | June 6 | U.S. presidential canditate | Los Angeles, California | United States | Sirhan Bishara Sirhan |
Fred Hampton | 1969 | December 4 | American civil rights activist | Chicago, Illinois | United States | members of the Chicago Police Department |
Krim Belkacem | 1970 | October 18 | Algerian revolutionary fighter and politician. | Frankfurt | West Germany | unknown |
Dhirendranath Datta | 1971 | 29 March | East Pakistani lawyer | Moynamoti | Pakistani Army | |
Maximiliano Gómez | 1971 | May 23 | Dominican Republic politician | Dominican Republic | orders of Joaquin Balaguer | |
Ghassan Kanafani | 1972 | 8 July | Palestinian writer | Beirut | Lebanon | Mossad |
Outel Bono | 1973 | 26 August | Chadian medical doctor and politician. | Paris | France | French secret service and Chadian Government |
Amílcar Cabral | 1973 | 20 January | Guinea-Bissauan and Cape Verdean intellectual, poet, theoretician, revolutionary | Conakry | Guinea | Portuguese intelligence agents |
Víctor Jara | 1973 | 16 September | Chilean teacher, theater director | Santiago | Chile | Pedro Barrientos |
Silvio Frondizi | 1974 | September 27 | Argentine intellectual and lawyer | Buenos Aires | Argentina | Argentine Anticommunist Alliance |
Carlos Mugica | 1974 | May 11 | Argentine Roman Catholic priest and activist. | Villa Luro | Argentina | Rodolfo Almirón |
José Tohá | 1974 | March 15 | Chilean journalist | Santiago | Chile | military |
Omar Benjelloun | 1975 | 18 December | Moroccan journalist and trade union activist. | Casablanca | Morocco | Chabiba islamia |
Herbert Chitepo | 1975 | 18 March | Rhodesian ZANU-activist | Lusaka | Zambia | Rhodesian Security Forces. |
Josiah Mwangi Kariuki | 1975 | 2 March | Kenyan socialist politician | Nairobi | Kenya | Kenyan police |
Roque Dalton | 1975 | May 10 | Salvadoran poet, essayist, journalist, political activist, and intellectual. | San Salvador | El Salvador | People's Revolutionary Army |
Boonsanong Punyodyana | 1976 | 28 February | Thai socialist politician | Bangkok | Thailand | unknown |
Enrique Angelelli | 1976 | 4 August | Bishop of La Rioja | Sañogasta | Argentina | Argentinian military |
Orlando Letelier | 1976 | September 21 | Chilean economist, ex-ambassador | Washington, DC | United States | Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional |
Stephen Biko | 1977 | 12 September | South African anti-apartheid activist | Pretoria | South Africa | South African Police Forces |
Janani Luwum | 1977 | 17 February | Ugandan archbishop | Kampala | Uganda | Idi Amin regime |
Rutilio Grande | 1977 | March 12 | Salvadoran priest | Aguilares | El Salvador | mob |
Mir Akbar Khyber | 1978 | April 17 | Afghan intellectual, editor | Kabul | Afghanistan | Hekmatyar's Hezbi Islami |
Henri Curiel | 1978 | May 4 | Egyptian left-wing political activist | Paris | France | OAS and Charles Martel Group |
Georgi Markov | 1978 | 11 September | Bulgarian dissident | London | United Kingdom | Bulgarian secret service |
Harvey Milk | 1978 | November 27 | American LGBT human rights activists | San Francisco, California | United States | Dan White |
George R. Moscone | 1978 | November 27 | Mayor of San Francisco | San Francisco, California | United States | Dan White |
José Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana | 1978 | 21 December | Spanish Basque activists | Anglet | France | car bomb |
Allard K. Lowenstein | 1980 | March 14 | American civil rights activist | New York City | United States | Dennis Sweeney. |
Óscar Romero | 1980 | 24 March | Archbishop of San Salvador | San Salvador | El Salvador | mob |
Walter Rodney | 1980 | 13 June | Guyanese historian, political activist and scholar | Georgetown | Guyana | unknown |
Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz | 1980 | July 17 | Bolivian writer, dramatist, journalist, | La Paz | Bolivia | Luis Garcia Meza |
Enrique Álvarez Córdova | 1980 | November 27 | Salvadoran politicians | San Salvador | El Salvador | Brígada Anticomunista Maximiliano Hernández Martínez |
John Lennon | 1980 | 8 December | American anti-war activist and ex-Beatles | New York City | United States | Mark David Chapman |
Pierre Declercq | 1981 | 19 September | French New Caledonian politician | Nouméa | New Caledonia | unknown |
Attati Mpakati | 1983 | 24 March | Malawian dissident | Harare | Zimbabwe | Malawian agents |
Benigno Aquino, Jr. | 1983 | 21 August | Filipino opposition leader | Manila | Philippines | Filippino agents |
Alan Berg | 1984 | January 1 | American attorney and talk radio show host | Denver, Colorado | United States | Silent Brotherhood |
Henry Liu | 1984 | 15 October | Taiwanese writer and journalist | Daly City, California | United States | Bamboo Union |
Jerzy Popiełuszko | 1984 | 19 October | Polish Roman Catholic priest | Włocławek | Poland | Polish Security Service |
Gérard Hoarau | 1985 | 29 November | Seychellois politicians | London | United Kingdom | France-Albert René regime |
Shahnawaz Bhutto | 1985 | 18 July | Pakistani democracy activist | Nice | France | Zia ul-Haq regime |
Murtaza Bhutto | 1985 | 20 September | Pakistani democracy activist | Karachi | Pakistan | police |
Éloi Machoro | 1985 | 12 January | New Caledonian Kanak politician | Canala | New Caledonia | French gendarme |
Hugo Spadafora | 1985 | September 13 | Panamanian activist | La Concepción | Panama | Panamanian government |
Olof Palme | 1986 | 28 February | Prime Minister of Sweden | Stockholm | Sweden | unknown |
Jaime Pardo Leal | 1987 | October 11 | Colombian lawyer, union leader, | La Mesa | Colombia | Colombian mafia |
Dulcie September | 1988 | 29 March | South African anti-apartheid political activist | Paris | France | South African agents |
Chico Mendes | 1988 | December 22 | Brazilian trade unionist and environmentalist | Xapuri | Brazil | Darci and Darly Alves da Silva, Jerdeir Pereira, |
David Webster | 1989 | 1 May | South African anthropologist | Troyeville | South Africa | South African Civil Cooperation Bureau |
Jean-Marie Tjibaou | 1989 | May 4 | New Caledonian Kanak politician | Ouvéa | New Caledonia | Djubelly Wéa |
Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou | 1989 | 13 July | Head of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan | Vienna | Austria | Iranian agents |
Luis Carlos Galán | 1989 | 18 August | Colombian journalist | Bogotá | Colombia | Colombian mafia |
Anton Lubowski | 1989 | 12 September | Namibian anti-apartheid activist | Windhoek | Namibia | South African Civil Cooperation Bureau |
Segundo Montes | 1989 | November 16 | Salvadoran priest | San Salvador | El Salvador | Salvadoran army |
Ignacio Ellacuría | 1989 | November 16 | Salvadoran philosopher, and theologian | San Salvador | El Salvador | Salvadoran army |
Farag Foda | 1992 | 9 June | Egyptian professor | Heliopolis | Egypt | Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya |
Marsha P. Johnson | 1992 | July 4 | Gay liberation and AIDS activist | New York City | United States | Unknown (described by witnesses as a "group of thugs") |
Tavio Amorin | 1992 | 29 July 1992 | Togolese politician | Lomé | Togo | police |
Tahar Djaout | 1993 | May 26 | Algerian journalist, poet | Algiers | Algeria | Armed Islamic Group |
Chris Hani | 1993 | 10 April | South African Anti-apartheid activists | Boksburg | South Africa | Janusz Waluś |
Melchior Ndadaye | 1993 | 21 October | Burundian intellectual and politician. | Bujumbura | Burundi | Burundi Army |
Jorge Carpio Nicolle | 1993 | July 3 | Guatemalan newspaper publisher. | Chichicastenango | Guatemala | mob |
Cheb Hasni | 1994 | 29 September | Algerian musician | Oran | Algeria | Armed Islamic Group |
Johan Heyns | 1994 | 5 November | South African Anti-apartheid activists | Pretoria | South Africa | White South African extremists |
Iqbal Masih | 1995 | 16 April | Pakistani child activists | Muridke | Pakistan | unknown |
Jaswant Singh Khalra | 1995 | 6 September | Indian human rights activist | Jhabal | India | Kanwar Pal Singh Gill |
Kudirat Abiola | 1996 | 9 June | spouse of Nigerian presidential canditate Moshood Abiola | Lagos | Nigeria | six team of men |
Abdelhak Benhamouda | 1997 | January 28 | Algerian trade unionist | Algiers | Algeria | unknown |
Lounès Matoub | 1998 | 25 June | Algerian musician | Beni Aïssi | Algeria | police |
Azem Hajdari | 1998 | September 12 | Albanian anti-communists | Tirana | Albania | Fatmir Haklaj, Jaho Mulosmani, and Naim Cangu |
Sanjaasürengiyn Zorig | 1998 | 2 October | Mongolian activists | Ulaanbaatar | Mongolia | unknown |
Galina Starovoytova | 1998 | November 20 | Russian dissidents | St Petersburg | Russia | Russian state security service |
Norbert Zongo | 1998 | 13 December | Burkinabé publisher | Sapouy | Burkina Faso | Burkinabé agents |
Bishop Juan José Gerardi | 1998 | 26 April | Guatemalan Roman Catholic bishop | San Sebastian Church | Guatemala | Guatemalan military personnels |
Larisa Yudina | 1998 | 8 June | Russian journalist | Elista | Russia | unknown |
Jaime Hurtado | 1999 | 17 February | Ecuadorian politician | Quito | Ecuador | Christian Steven Ponce |
Jean Dominique | 2000 | April 3 | Haitian journalist | Port-au-Prince | Haiti | unknown |
Carlos Cardoso | 2000 | 22 November | Mozambican journalist | Maputo | Mozambique | Nyimpine Chissano and Aníbal dos Santos |
Filemon Lagman | 2001 | February 6 | Filipino workers' leader | Quezon City | Philippines | unknown |
Phoolan Devi | 2001 | 25 July | Indian activist | New Delhi | India | Sher Singh Rana |
Jarallah Omar | 2002 | 28 December | Yemeni politician, intellectual | Sana'a | Yemen | Ali Ahmad al-Jarallah |
Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev | 2004 | February 13 | Chechen exiled separatist writer | Doha | Qatar | FSB agents |
Munir Said Thalib | 2004 | September 7 | Indonesian human rights activist | Schiphol | Netherlands | Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto |
Deyda Hydara | 2004 | 16 December | Gambian newspaper reporter | Banjul | Gambia | Yahya Jammeh regime |
Elmar Hüseynov | 2005 | 2 March | Azerbaijani journalist | Baku | Azerbaijan | Azerbaijani regime |
Dorothy Stang | 2005 | March 15 | Brazilian-American missionary | Anapu | Brazil | Clodoaldo Carlos Batista and Raifran das Neves Sales |
Filiberto Ojeda Ríos | 2005 | September 23 | Puerto Rican independence activist | Hormigueros | Puerto Rico | FBI |
Anna Politkovskaya | 2006 | 7 October | Russian Journalist | Moscow | Russia | three Chechen men |
Aleksandr Litvinenko | 2006 | 23 November | Russian dissident | London | United Kingdom | FSB agens |
Hrant Dink | 2007 | 19 January | Turkish-Armenian editor, journalist and columnist | Istanbul | Turkey | Ogün Samast |
Gabriel Mkhumane | 2008 | 1 April | Swazi opposition leader. | Nelspruit | South Africa | Swaziland government agents |
Tonderai Ndira | 2008 | 13 -22 May | Zimbabwean political dissident | Harare | Zimbabwe | Zimbabwean agents |
Sakine Cansız | 2013 | 9 January | Turkish Kurdish women's rights activists | Paris | France | Turkish agents |
Chokri Belaïd | 2013 | 6 February | Tunisian lawyer | El Menzah | Tunisia | Kamel Gaghgadhi |
Avijit Roy | 2015 | 26 February | Bangladeshi online activist | Dhaka | Bangladesh | Ansarullah Bangla Team |
Boris Nemtsov | 2015 | 27 February | Russian political activists | Moscow | Russia | two Chechen men |
Berta Cáceres | 2016 | 3 March | Honduran environmental activist, indigenous leader | La Esperanza | Honduras | employees of DESA |
Xulhaz Mannan | 2016 | 25 April | Bangladeshi LGBT rights activist | Dhaka | Bangladesh | Ansar-al-Islam, an Al-Qaida affiliate |
Marielle Franco | 2018 | March 14 | Brazilian politician, feminist, and human rights activist | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | the Brazilian Government, allegedly |