Death by Booga-booga!
Punishments that make the gas chamber look humane.
Maxim, Jul 2000
Afghanistan
Since coming to power in 1997, the Taliban party has resorted to unorthodox capital punishments. On the basis of an obscure line of Islamic text, at least five felons have been executed by having a giant wall of bricks or mud pushed onto them.
Florida
Last July, when Allen Lee Davis became the first person executed in the state’s new 2,300-volt electric chair, blood gushed from his nose. But Florida has not lost faith in Old Sparky, which back in 1997 made foot-long flames shoot out of Pedro Medina’s head.
Kazakhstan
This republic has emerged as the former Soviet satellite for gruesome punishments. Besides exercising your run-of-the-mill brutality, one prison starved its inmates until they were so mad with hunger that they killed a fellow felon and ate him.
Libya
Perennially wacky dictator Muammar Qaddafi has insisted that his nation televise its numerous public hangings. Recently a hangman was shown strenuously yanking on his victim’s legs while the man thrashed on the rope, still alive.
Pakistan
This March in the city of Lahore, convicted serial killer Javed Iqbal was sentenced to be strangled to death in a public park. Just to be safe, his body was ordered to be cut into 100 pieces, which were then to be dropped into a vat of acid.
Singapore
Caning is the least of your worries in this stern little Southeast Asian nation, where you’ll be strung up faster than you can say “But that wasn’t in the travel guide!” The country employs seven different excuses for killing you, including drug trafficking.
Zimbabwe
This African nation hangs its crooks, with the occasional crucifixion thrown in for good measure. One fellow, screaming that he was innocent and begging for his life, tried to grab onto the hangman. So they beat him to death with a hammer