List of assassinated human rights activists

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)
Olympe de Gouges	1793	3 November	French playwright and political activist whose writings on women's rights and abolitionism brought her execution by guillotine	Paris	France	Executioner
Elijah Parish Lovejoy	1837	7 November	American journalist, newspaper editor and abolitionist	Alton, Illinois	United States	mob
Abraham Lincoln	1865	15 April	President of the U.S. and anti-slavery activist	Washington, D.C.	United States	John Wilkes Booth
John W. Stephens	1913	22 February	American state senator who assisted freed slaves	Yanceyville, North Carolina	United States	Ku Klux Klan
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	3 February	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	Italian anti-fascist	Rome	Italy	Blackshirts
Avni Rustemi	1924	22 April	Albanian teacher and activist	Tirana	Albania	Jusuf Reçi
Takiji Kobayashi	1933	20 February	Japanese author	Tokyo	Japan	police
Augusto César Sandino	1934	21 February	Nicaraguan revolutionary	Managua	Nicaragua	United States Marine Corps
Antonio Guiteras	1935	8 May	Cuban politician	Matanzas	Cuba	Cuban government
Walter W. Liggett	1935	9 December	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	11 January	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	9 April	Mayor 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	18 June	American attorney	Phenix City, Alabama	United States	Sheriff Albert Fuller
George W. Lee	1955	7 May	American civil rights leader and minister	Midnight, Mississippi	United States	Unidentified shooter
Lamar Smith	1955	13 August	American civil rights leader, farmer, and veteran	Brookhaven, Mississippi	United States	Unidentified shooter
Dr. Thomas Hency Brewer	1956	18 February	American co-founder of an NAACP chapter	Columbus, Georgia	United States	Luico Flowers
Ali Boumendjel	1957	23 March	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
Salah Ben Youssef	1961	12 August	Tunisian lawyer and politician	Frankfurt	West Germany	Tunisian agents
Herbert Lee	1961	25 September	American civil rights and voting rights activist	Liberty, Mississippi	United States	E. H. Hurst
Mouloud Feraoun	1962	15 March	Algerian journalist and translator	Algiers	Algeria	OAS
William Lewis Moore	1963	23 April	American protesting racial segregation	Attalla, Alabama	United States	Unidentified/disputed shooter
Grigoris Lambrakis	1963	27 May	Greek anti-war activist	Thessaloniki	Greece	Emannouel Emannouilides and Spyros Gotzamanis
Medgar Evers	1963	12 June	American civil rights activist	Jackson, Mississippi	United States	Byron De La Beckwith
Louis Allen	1964	31 January	American voting rights activist	Amite County, Mississippi	United States	Disputed
James Chaney	1964	21 June	American civil rights	Mississippi	United States	Ku Klux Klan
Andrew Goodman	1964	21 June	American civil rights activist	Mississippi	United States	Ku Klux Klan
Michael Schwerner	1964	21 June	American civil rights activist	Philadelphia, Mississippi	United States	Ku Klux Klan
Humberto Delgado	1965	13 February	Portuguese anti-fascist	Olivenza	Spain	PIDE
Malcolm X	1965	21 February	American human rights activist	New York City	United States	members of the Nation of Islam
Pio Gama Pinto	1965	24 February	Kenyan journalist	Nairobi	Kenya	police
James Reeb	1965	11 March	American minister and civil rights activist	Alabama	United States	mob
Viola Liuzzo	1965	25 March	American civil rights activist	Selma, Alabama	United States	Ku Klux Klan
Jonathan Daniels	1965	20 August	American civil rights activist	Hayneville, Alabama	United States	Tom Coleman
Mehdi Ben Barka	1965	29 October	Moroccan revolutionary fighter and politician	Paris	France	French intelligence agents
Sammy Younge Jr.	1966	3 January	American civil rights and voting rights activist	Tuskegee, Alabama	United States	Marvin Segrest
Vernon Dahmer	1966	10 January	American civil rights and voting rights activist	Hattiesburg, Mississippi	United States	Ku Klux Klan
Osende Afana	1966	15 March	Cameroonian economist	Ndélélé	Cameroon	Cameroonian Armed Forces
Chit Phumisak	1966	5 May	Thai Marxist historian	Waritchaphum	Thailand	local villagers
Robert W. Spike	1966	17 October	American civil rights activist	Columbus, Ohio	United States	unknown
Wharlest Jackson	1967	27 February	American NAACP chapter treasurer	Natchez, Mississippi	United States	unknown
Benno Ohnesorg	1967	2 June	German anti-war activist	West Berlin	West Germany	Karl-Heinz Kurras
Che Guevara	1967	9 October	Argentine revolutionary	La Higuera	Bolivia	CIA-assisted Bolivian forces
Martin Luther King Jr.	1968	4 April	American civil rights activist	Memphis, Tennessee	United States	James Earl Ray
Robert F. Kennedy	1968	6 June	U.S. presidential candidate	Los Angeles, California	United States	Sirhan Bishara Sirhan
Tom Mboya	1969	5 July	Kenyan Cabinet Minister	Nairobi	Kenya	Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge
Fred Hampton	1969	4 December	American civil rights activist	Chicago, Illinois	United States	members of the Chicago Police Department
Krim Belkacem	1970	18 October	Algerian revolutionary fighter and politician	Frankfurt	West Germany	unknown
Dhirendranath Datta	1971	29 March	East Pakistani lawyer	Moynamoti	East Pakistan	Pakistani Army
Maximiliano Gómez	1971	23 May	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, and revolutionary	Conakry	Guinea	Portuguese intelligence agents
Víctor Jara	1973	16 September	Chilean teacher and theater director	Santiago	Chile	Pedro Barrientos
Silvio Frondizi	1974	27 September	Argentine intellectual and lawyer	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Argentine Anticommunist Alliance
Carlos Mugica	1974	11 May	Argentine Roman Catholic priest and activist	Villa Luro	Argentina	Rodolfo Almirón
José Tohá	1974	15 March	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	10 May	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	21 September	Chilean economist, ex-ambassador	Washington, DC	United States	Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional
Bantu 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	12 March	Salvadoran priest	Aguilares	El Salvador	mob
Mir Akbar Khyber	1978	17 April	Afghan intellectual and editor	Kabul	Afghanistan	Unknown, Possibly Hekmatyar's Hezbi Islami, Khalq Faction of PDPA or Babrak Karmal
Henri Curiel	1978	4 May	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	27 November	American LGBT human rights activist	San Francisco, California	United States	Dan White
George R. Moscone	1978	27 November	Mayor of San Francisco	San Francisco, California	United States	Dan White
José Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana	1978	21 December	Spanish Basque activist	Anglet	France	car bomb
Allard K. Lowenstein	1980	14 March	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	17 July	Bolivian writer, dramatist, and journalist	La Paz	Bolivia	Luis Garcia Meza
Enrique Álvarez Córdova	1980	27 November	Salvadoran politicians	San Salvador	El Salvador	Brígada Anticomunista Maximiliano Hernández Martínez
John Lennon	1980	8 December	British anti-war activist and ex-Beatle	New York City	United States	Mark David Chapman
Pierre Declercq	1981	19 September	French New Caledonian politician	Nouméa	New Caledonia	unknown
Anwar Sadat	1981	6 October	President of Egypt and peace activist	Cairo, Egypt	Egypt	Egyptian Islamic Jihad
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	1 January	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
Fort Calata	1985	27 June	South African anti-apartheid activist	Port Elizabeth	South Africa	South African Police Forces
Matthew Goniwe	1985	27 June	South African anti-apartheid activist	Port Elizabeth	South Africa	South African Police Forces
Sicelo Mhlauli	1985	27 June	South African anti-apartheid activist	Port Elizabeth	South Africa	South African Police Forces
Sparrow Mkhonto	1985	27 June	South African anti-apartheid activist	Port Elizabeth	South Africa	South African Police Forces
Hugo Spadafora	1985	13 September	Panamanian activist	La Concepción	Panama	Panamanian government
Olof Palme	1986	28 February	Prime Minister of Sweden	Stockholm	Sweden	unknown
Jaime Pardo Leal	1987	11 October	Colombian lawyer and 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	22 December	Brazilian trade unionist and environmentalist	Xapuri	Brazil	Darci and Darly Alves da Silva, Jerdeir Pereira
Pat Finucane	1989	12 February	Irish lawyer	Belfast	United Kingdom	Ken Barrett
David Webster	1989	1 May	South African anthropologist	Troyeville	South Africa	South African Civil Cooperation Bureau
Jean-Marie Tjibaou	1989	4 May	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	16 November	Salvadoran priest	San Salvador	El Salvador	Salvadoran army
Ignacio Ellacuría	1989	16 November	Salvadoran philosopher and theologian	San Salvador	El Salvador	Salvadoran army
Richard de Zoysa	1990	18 February	Sri Lankan journalist and actor	Rajagiriya	Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka-linked death squad
Farag Foda	1992	9 June	Egyptian professor	Heliopolis	Egypt	Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Marsha P. Johnson	1992	4 July	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	26 May	Algerian journalist and poet	Algiers	Algeria	Armed Islamic Group
Chris Hani	1993	10 April	South African Anti-apartheid activist	Boksburg	South Africa	Janusz Waluś
Melchior Ndadaye	1993	21 October	Burundian intellectual and politician	Bujumbura	Burundi	Burundi Army
Jorge Carpio Nicolle	1993	3 July	Guatemalan newspaper publisher	Chichicastenango	Guatemala	mob
Cheb Hasni	1994	29 September	Algerian musician	Oran	Algeria	Armed Islamic Group
Jon Simmons	1994	1 October	LGBT rights activist	Los Angeles	United States	Unknown
Johan Heyns	1994	5 November	South African Anti-apartheid activist	Pretoria	South Africa	White South African extremists
Iqbal Masih	1995	16 April	Pakistani child activist	Muridke	Pakistan	Carpet Mafia
Jaswant Singh Khalra	1995	6 September	Indian human rights activist	Jhabal	India	Kanwar Pal Singh Gill
Yitzhak Rabin	1995	4 November	Prime Minister of Israel and peace activist	Tel Aviv, Israel	Israel	Yigal Amir
Kudirat Abiola	1996	9 June	spouse of Nigerian presidential candidate Moshood Abiola	Lagos	Nigeria	team of six men
Abdelhak Benhamouda	1997	28 January	Algerian trade unionist	Algiers	Algeria	unknown
Lounès Matoub	1998	25 June	Algerian musician	Beni Aïssi	Algeria	police
Azem Hajdari	1998	12 September	Albanian anti-communists	Tirana	Albania	Fatmir Haklaj, Jaho Mulosmani, and Naim Cangu
Sanjaasürengiyn Zorig	1998	2 October	Mongolian activist	Ulaanbaatar	Mongolia	unknown
Galina Starovoytova	1998	20 November	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	3 April	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	6 February	Filipino workers' leader	Quezon City	Philippines	unknown
Phoolan Devi	2001	25 July	Indian activist	New Delhi	India	Sher Singh Rana
Pim Fortuyn	2002	6 May	Dutch politician and LGBT human rights activist	Hilversum, Netherlands	Netherlands	Volkert van der Graaf
Jarallah Omar	2002	28 December	Yemeni politician, intellectual	Sana'a	Yemen	Ali Ahmad al-Jarallah
Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev	2004	13 February	Chechen exiled separatist writer	Doha	Qatar	FSB agents
Brian Williamson	2004	5 June	Jamaican LGBT+ rights activist	Kingston	Jamaica	Dwight Hayden
Munir Said Thalib	2004	7 September	Indonesian human rights activist	Schiphol	Netherlands	Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto
FannyAnn Eddy	2004	28 September	LGBT rights activist	Freetown	Sierra Leone	Unknown
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	15 March	Brazilian-American missionary	Anapu	Brazil	Clodoaldo Carlos Batista and Raifran das Neves Sales
Filiberto Ojeda Ríos	2005	23 September	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 agents
Hrant Dink	2007	19 January	Turkish-Armenian editor, journalist and columnist	Istanbul	Turkey	Ogün Samast
Gareth Williams	2007	14 February	Gay rights activist	Mandeville	Jamaica	mob
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
Natalya Estemirova	2009	15 July	Russian human rights activist	Ingushetia	Russia	unknown
David Kato	2011	27 January	Gay rights activist and teacher	Mukono Town	Uganda	Sidney Nsubuga Enoch
Raymond Taavel	2012	17 April	LGBT rights activist	Halifax	Canada	Andre Noel Denny
Sakine Cansız	2013	9 January	Turkish Kurdish women's rights activist	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 activist	Moscow	Russia	two Chechen men
Diana Sacayán	2015	13 October	Argentinian transgender rights activist	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Gabriel David Marino
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	14 March	Brazilian politician, feminist, and human rights activist	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	the Brazilian Government, allegedly
Arman Loni	2019	2 February	Pashtun civil rights activist	Balochistan	Pakistan	Pakistani Police[1]
Marc Angelucci	2020	11 July	US Men's Rights Activist and Attorney	California, US	US	Roy Den Hollander [2]
Ayanda Ngila	2022	8 March	Activist and leader of shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo and the eKhenana Commune	Durban, South Africa	South Africa	Hitmen linked to African National Congress [3][4]
Nokuthula Mabaso	2022	5 May	Activist and leader of shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo and the eKhenana Commune	Durban, South Africa	South Africa	Hitmen linked to African National Congress [5][6]
Lindokuhle Mnguni	2022	20 August	Activist and leader of shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo and the eKhenana Commune	Durban, South Africa	South Africa	Hitmen linked to African National Congress [7]

References

1. "Pakistan rights group to protest killing of activist". Aljazeera. 4 February 2019.
2. "Slaying of men's rights activist in California linked to suspected shooter of federal judge's family, FBI confirms". The Mercury News. 2 July 2020.
3. "The murder of Abahlali's Ayanda Ngila is an injury to us all". Daily Maverick. 15 March 2022.
4. "Killing of land rights defender Ayanda Ngila and targeting of Abahlali baseMjondolo". 25 March 2022.
5. "Abahlali leader describes how Nokuthula Mabaso was shot 4 times in back, then in breast and stomach". Daily Maverick. 12 May 2022.
6. "Killing of woman human rights defender Nokuthula Mabasoo". 7 June 2022.
7. "Lindokuhle Mnguni, the chairperson of the eKhenana Commune and an inspirational leader in our movement". Facebook. 20 August 2022. Lindokuhle Mnguni, the chairperson of the eKhenana Commune and an inspirational leader in our movement, has been shot dead at the Commune in Cato Manor, eThekwini. Two men opened fire several times to his home at 1:30 am this morning. Our Hearts are Heavy, we are mourning another loss of a great leader. He is the third leader of the Commune to be assassinated this year. We lost Nokuthula Mabaso on 5 May and Ayanda Ngila on 8 March.