after the brain can no longer be resuscitated. the time of death in such cases is a matter of convention. in judicial hangings, death is pronounced at cardiac arrest, which may occur at times from several minutes up to 15 minutes or longer after hanging. during suspension, once the prisoner has lapsed into unconsciousness, rippling movements of the body and limbs may occur for some time which are usually attributed to nervous and muscular reflexes. in britain, it was normal to leave the body suspended for an hour to ensure death. after death, the body typically shows marks of suspension: bruising and rope marks on the neck. sphincters will relax spontaneously and urine and faeces will be evacuated. forensic experts may often be able to tell if hanging is suicide or homicide, as each leaves a distinctive ligature mark. one of the hints they use is the hyoid bone. if broken, it often means the person has been murdered by manual strangulation. notable practices across the globe la pendaison (the hanging), a plate from french artist jacques callot's 1633 series the great miseries of war. hanging has been a method of capital punishment in many countries, and is still used by many countries to this day. long-drop hanging is mainly used by former british colonies, while short-drop and suspension hanging is common in iran. afghanistan hanging is the most used form of capital punishment in afghanistan. australia capital punishment was a part of the legal system of australia from the establishment of new south wales as a british penal colony, until 1985, by which time all australian states and territories had abolished the death penalty; in practice, the last execution in australia was the hanging of ronald ryan on 3 february 1967, in victoria. during the 19th century, crimes that could carry a death sentence included burglary, sheep theft, forgery, sexual assaults, murder and manslaughter. during the 19th century, there were roughly eighty people hanged every year throughout the australian colonies for these crimes. bahamas bahamas employs hanging to execute the condemned. that being said it hasn't conducted an execution since 2000. there were some people on death row but their sentences were commuted bangladesh hanging is the only method of execution in bangladesh, ever since its independence. brazil death by hanging was the customary method of capital punishment in brazil throughout its history. some important national heroes like tiradentes (1792) were killed by hanging. the last man executed in brazil was the slave francisco, in 1876. the death penalty was abolished for all crimes, except for those committed under extraordinary circumstances such as war or military law, in 1890. bulgaria bulgaria's national hero, vasil levski, was executed by hanging by the ottoman court in sofia in 1873. every year since bulgaria's liberation, thousands come with flowers on the date of his death, 19 february, to his monument where the gallows stood. the last execution was in 1989, and the death penalty was abolished for all crimes in 1998. canada historically, hanging was the only method of execution used in canada and was in use as possible punishment for all murders until 1961, when murders were reclassified into capital and non-capital offences. the death penalty was restricted to apply only for certain offences to the national defence act in 1976 and was completely abolished in 1998. the last hangings in canada took place on 11 december 1962. egypt in 1955, egypt hanged three israelis on charges of spying. in 1982 egypt hanged three civilians convicted of the assassination of anwar sadat. in 2004, egypt hanged five militants on charges of trying to kill the prime minister. to this day, hanging remains the standard method of capital punishment in egypt, which executes more people each year than any other african country. germany public execution of polish civilians by the nazi germans in german occupied kraków in 1942 alleged soviet partisans hanged by the nazis in january 1943 in the territories occupied by nazi germany from 1939 to 1945, strangulation hanging was a preferred means of public execution, although more criminal executions were performed by guillotine than hanging. the most commonly sentenced were partisans and black marketeers, whose bodies were usually left hanging for long periods. there are also numerous reports of concentration camp inmates being hanged. hanging was continued in post-war germany in the british and us occupation zones under their jurisdiction, and for nazi war criminals, until well after (western) germany itself had abolished the death penalty by the german constitution as adopted in 1949. west berlin was not subject to the grundgesetz (basic law) and abolished the death penalty in 1951. the german democratic republic abolished the death penalty in 1987. the last execution ordered by a west german court was carried out by guillotine in moabit prison in 1949. the last hanging in germany was the one ordered of several war criminals in landsberg am lech on 7 june 1951. the last known execution in east germany was in 1981 by a pistol shot to the neck. hong kong even though hong kong is now part of china it has no capital punishment; it is a special administrative region of china. when hong kong was still a part of the british it had hanging as the method of execution. the last person who was executed was a chinese vietnamese man who attack the security guard and another person. this was in 1966. hungary the prime minister of hungary, during the 1956 revolution, imre nagy, was secretly tried, executed by hanging, and buried unceremoniously by the new soviet-backed hungarian government, in 1958. nagy was later publicly exonerated by hungary. capital punishment was abolished for all crimes in 1990. india the hanging of two participants in british india. ( indian rebellion of 1857 ). hanging was introduced by the british. all executions in india since independence have been carried out by hanging, although the law provides for military executions to be carried out by firing squad. in 1949, nathuram godse, who had been sentenced to death for the assassination of mahatma gandhi, was the first person to be executed by hanging in independent india. the supreme court of india has suggested that capital punishment should be given only in the "rarest of rare cases". since 2001, eight people have been executed in india. dhananjoy chatterjee, the 1991 rapist and murderer was executed on 14 august 2004 in alipore jail, kolkata. ajmal kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the 2008 mumbai attacks was executed on 21 november 2012 in yerwada central jail, pune. the supreme court of india had previously rejected his mercy plea, which was then rejected by the president of india. he was hanged one week later. afzal guru, a terrorist found guilty of conspiracy in the december 2001 attack on the indian parliament, was executed by hanging in tihar jail, delhi on 9 february 2013. yakub memon was convicted over his involvement in the 1993 bombay bombings by special terrorist and disruptive activities court on 27 july 2007. his appeals and petitions for clemency were all rejected and he was finally executed by hanging on 30 july 2015 in nagpur jail. in march 2020, four prisoners convicted of rape and murder were executed by hanging in tihar jail. iran a public execution for a man convicted of rape, qarchak, 26 october 2011. death by hanging is the primary means of capital punishment in iran, which carries out one of the highest numbers of annual executions in the world. the method used is the short drop, which does not break the neck of the condemned, but rather causes a slower death due to strangulation. it is legal for murder, rape, and drug trafficking unless the criminal pays diyya to the victim's family, thus attaining their forgiveness (see sharia). if the presiding judge deems the case to be "causing public outrage", he can order the hanging to take place in public at the spot where the crime was committed, typically from a mobile telescoping crane which hoists the condemned high into the air. on 19 july 2005, two boys, mahmoud asgari and ayaz marhoni, aged 15 and 17 respectively, who had been convicted of the rape of a 13-year-old boy, were hanged at edalat (justice) square in mashhad, on charges of homosexuality and rape. on 15 august 2004, a 16-year-old girl, atefeh sahaaleh (also called atefeh rajabi), was executed for having committed "acts incompatible with chastity". at dawn on 27 july 2008, the iranian government executed 29 people at evin prison in tehran. on 2 december 2008, an unnamed man was hanged for murder at kazeroun prison, just moments after he was pardoned by the murder victim's family. he was quickly cut down and rushed to a hospital, where he was successfully revived. the conviction and hanging of reyhaneh jabbari caused international uproar as she was sentenced to death in 2009 and hanged on 25 october 2014 for murdering a former intelligence officer; according to jabbari's testimony she stabbed him during an attempt at rape and then another person killed him. kuwait kuwait has always used hanging for execution. during the gulf war, iraqi government officials executed different people for different reasons. after the war, kuwait hanged iraqi collaborators. sometimes the executions are in public. the most recent executions were in 2022. iraq hanging was used under the regime of saddam hussein, but was suspended along with capital punishment on 10 june 2003, when a coalition led by the united states invaded and overthrew the previous regime. the death penalty was reinstated on 8 august 2004. in september 2005, three murderers were the first people to be executed since the restoration. then on 9 march 2006, an official of iraq's supreme judicial council confirmed that iraqi authorities had executed the first insurgents by hanging. saddam hussein was sentenced to death by hanging for crimes against humanity on 5 november 2006, and was executed on 30 december 2006 at approximately 6:00 a.m. local time. during the drop, there was an audible crack indicating that his neck was broken, a successful example of a long-drop hanging. barzan ibrahim, the head of the mukhabarat, saddam's security agency, and awad hamed al-bandar, former chief judge, were executed on 15 january 2007, also by the long-drop method, but barzan was decapitated by the rope at the end of his fall. former vice-president taha yassin ramadan had been sentenced to life in prison on 5 november 2006, but the sentence was changed to death by hanging on 12 february 2007. he was the fourth and final man to be executed for the 1982 crimes against humanity on 20 march 2007. the execution went smoothly. at the anfal genocide trial, saddam's cousin ali hassan al-majid (alias chemical ali), former defence minister sultan hashim ahmed al-tay, and former deputy hussein rashid mohammed were sentenced to hang for their role in the al-anfal campaign against the kurds on 24 june 2007. al-majid was sentenced to death three more times: once for the 1991 suppression of a shi'a uprising along with abdul-ghani abdul ghafur on 2 december 2008; once for the 1999 crackdown in the assassination of grand ayatollah mohammad al-sadr on 2 march 2009; and once on 17 january 2010 for the gassing of the kurds in 1988; he was hanged on 25 january. on 26 october 2010, saddam's top minister tariq aziz was sentenced to hang for persecuting the members of rival shi'a political parties. his sentence was commuted to indefinite imprisonment after iraqi president jalal talabani did not sign his execution order and he died in prison in 2015. on 14 july 2011, us forces transferred condemned prisoners sultan hashim ahmed al-tay and two of saddam's half-brothers, sabawi ibrahim al-tikriti and watban ibrahim al-tikriti, to iraqi authorities for execution. the iraqi high tribunal had sentenced saddam's half-brothers to death on 11 march 2009 for their roles in the executions of 42 traders who were accused of manipulating food prices. none of the three men were executed. it is alleged that iraq's government keeps the execution rate secret, and hundreds may be carried out every year. in 2007, amnesty international stated that 900 people were at "imminent risk" of execution in iraq. israel although israel has provisions in its criminal law to use the death penalty