Capital punishment in Papua New Guinea Capital punishment in Papua New Guinea In Papua New Guinea (PNG), also officially known as the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, capital punishment (also called the "death penalty" or "execution") is a legal form of punishment. Despite its legality, capital punishment has not been imposed in PNG in over sixty years. The last known execution took place under the colonial administration of Australia. The last execution is understood to have been done by way of hanging and took place in the capital city of PNG, Port Moresby, in November 1954. Within the Pacific Islands Forum, all countries (albeit not
Territory of Papua and New Guinea de Menezes came upon the principal island "Papua". In 1545, the Spaniard Iñigo Ortiz de Retes gave the island the name "New Guinea" because of what he saw as a resemblance between the islands' inhabitants and those found on the African Guinea coast. Knowledge of the interior of the island remained scant for several centuries after these initial European encounters. In 1884, Germany formally took possession of the northeast quarter of the island and it became known as German New Guinea. In 1884, a British protectorate was proclaimed over Papua – the southern coast of New Guinea. The protectorate, called