This is a list of murdered political dissidents and human rights activists. The list is chronological. Intended victims Year Date Title at the time PlaceCountryAssassin(s)Olympe de Gouges 17933 November French playwright and political activist whose writings on women's rights and abolitionism brought her execution by guillotineParisExecutioner Elijah Parish Lovejoy 18377 NovemberAmerican journalist, newspaper editor and abolitionistAlton, IllinoismobAnthony Bewley186013 SeptemberReverend of Methodist Episcopal Church and abolitionistFort Worth, TexasAbraham Lincoln 186515 AprilPresident of the U.S. and anti-slavery activistWashington, D.C.John Wilkes BoothJohn W. Stephens 187022 FebruaryAmerican state senator who assisted freed slavesYanceyville, North CarolinaKu Klux Klan Francisco I. Madero 191322 FebruaryPresident of MexicoMexico CityVictoriano Huerta Song Jiaoren 22 MarchChinese republican leader of KuomintangShanghaiWu Shiying Jean Jaurès 191431 JulyFrench Marxist anti-war activistParisRaoul Villain John Chilembwe 19153 FebruaryMalawian philosopher and educatorShire HighlandsBritish colonial officers Karl Liebknecht191915 JanuaryGerman revolutionaryBerlinFreikorps Rosa LuxemburgPolish-German revolutionary Leo Jogiches10 MarchGerman Marxist revolutionary Emiliano Zapata10 AprilMexican peasant leaderChinamecaJesús Guajardo Charlemagne Péralte1 NovemberHaitian nationalist leaderPort-au-PrinceU.S. Marines Mustafa Suphi 192128 JanuaryTurkish communist leaderBlack SeaTurkish agents Michael Collins 192222 AugustIrish independence leaderBéal na BláthIrish Civil War Avni Rustemi192422 AprilAlbanian teacher and activistTiranaJusuf Reçi Giacomo Matteotti10 JuneItalian anti-fascistRomeBlackshirts Takiji Kobayashi 193320 FebruaryJapanese authorTokyopolice Augusto César Sandino 193421 FebruaryNicaraguan revolutionaryManaguaUnited States Marine Corps Antonio Guiteras 19358 MayCuban politicianMatanzasCuban government Walter W. Liggett 19359 DecemberAmerican journalistMinneapolis, MinnesotaBlumenfeld Abdul Rahman Shahbandar 1940JuneSyrian nationalistDamascus SyriaNational Bloc members Leon Trotsky 21 AugustSoviet dissidentCoyoacán, Mexico CityRamón Mercader Marx Dormoy 194126 JulyFrench socialist politicianMontélimarComité secret d'action révolutionnaire Carlo Tresca 194311 JanuaryAmerican newspaper editorNew York CityNKVD Mahatma Gandhi 194830 JanuaryIndian independence movement leaderNew DelhiNathuram Godse Jorge Eliécer Gaitán 9 AprilMayor of Bogotá BogotáEl Bogotazo Julien Lahaut 195018 AugustBelgian Republican politicianSeraingFrançois Goossens Leonardo Ruiz Pineda 195221 OctoberVenezuelan lawyerCaracaspolice Albert Patterson 195418 JuneAmerican attorneyPhenix City, AlabamaSheriff Albert Fuller George W. Lee 19557 MayAmerican civil rights leader and ministerMidnight, MississippiUnidentified shooter Lamar Smith 13 AugustAmerican civil rights leader, farmer, and veteranBrookhaven, Mississippi Dr. Thomas Hency Brewer 195618 February American co-founder of an NAACP chapterColumbus, GeorgiaLuico Flowers Ali Boumendjel 195723 MarchAlgerian militant and lawyerEl Biar French AlgeriaPaul Aussaresses Maurice Audin 11 June Algerian studentAlgiersAndré Charbonnier Ruben Um Nyobé 195813 SeptemberCameroonian anti-colonialistBoumnyébelFrench army Patrice Lumumba 196117 JanuaryFirst Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and anti-colonial activistnear ÉlisabethvilleCongolese coup leaders with Belgian and U.S. involvement Salah Ben Youssef 12 AugustTunisian lawyer and politicianFrankfurtTunisian agents Herbert Lee 25 SeptemberAmerican civil rights and voting rights activistLiberty, MississippiE. H. Hurst Mouloud Feraoun 196215 MarchAlgerian journalist and translatorAlgiersOAS William Lewis Moore 196323 AprilAmerican protesting racial segregationAttalla, AlabamaUnidentified/disputed shooter Grigoris Lambrakis 27 MayGreek anti-war activistThessalonikiEmannouel Emannouilides and Spyros Gotzamanis Medgar Evers 12 JuneAmerican civil rights activistJackson, MississippiByron De La Beckwith Louis Allen 196431 JanuaryAmerican voting rights activistAmite County, MississippiDisputed James Chaney 21 JuneAmerican civil rights activistPhiladelphia, MississippiKu Klux Klan Andrew Goodman Michael Schwerner Humberto Delgado 196513 FebruaryPortuguese anti-fascistOlivenzaPIDE Malcolm X 21 FebruaryAmerican human rights activistNew York Citymembers of the Nation of Islam Pio Gama Pinto 24 FebruaryKenyan journalistNairobipolice James Reeb 11 MarchAmerican minister and civil rights activistAlabamamob Viola Liuzzo 25 MarchAmerican civil rights activistSelma, AlabamaKu Klux Klan Jonathan Daniels 20 AugustHayneville, AlabamaTom Coleman Mehdi Ben Barka 29 OctoberMoroccan revolutionary fighter and politicianParisFrench intelligence agents Sammy Younge Jr. 19663 JanuaryAmerican civil rights and voting rights activistTuskegee, AlabamaMarvin Segrest Vernon Dahmer 10 JanuaryHattiesburg, MississippiKu Klux Klan Osende Afana 15 MarchCameroonian economistNdéléléCameroonian Armed Forces Chit Phumisak 5 MayThai Marxist historianWaritchaphumlocal villagers Robert W. Spike 17 OctoberAmerican civil rights activistColumbus, Ohiounknown Wharlest Jackson 196727 FebruaryAmerican NAACP chapter treasurerNatchez, Mississippi Benno Ohnesorg 2 JuneGerman anti-war activistWest BerlinKarl-Heinz KurrasChe Guevara9 OctoberArgentine revolutionaryLa HigueraCIA-assisted Bolivian forces Martin Luther King Jr. 19684 AprilAmerican civil rights activistMemphis, TennesseeJames Earl Ray Robert F. Kennedy 6 JuneU.S. presidential candidateLos Angeles, CaliforniaSirhan Bishara Sirhan Tom Mboya 19695 JulyKenyan Cabinet MinisterNairobiNahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge Fred Hampton 4 DecemberAmerican civil rights activistChicago, Illinoismembers of the Chicago Police Department Krim Belkacem 197018 OctoberAlgerian revolutionary fighter and politicianFrankfurtunknown Dhirendranath Datta 197129 MarchEast Pakistani lawyerMoynamoti East PakistanPakistani Army Maximiliano Gómez 23 MayDominican Republic politicianorders of Joaquin Balaguer Ghassan Kanafani 19728 July Palestinian writerBeirutMossad Outel Bono 197326 AugustChadian medical doctor and politicianParisFrench secret service and Chadian Government Amílcar Cabral 20 JanuaryGuinea-Bissauan and Cape Verdean intellectual, poet, theoretician, and revolutionaryConakryPortuguese intelligence agents Víctor Jara 16 SeptemberChilean teacher and theater directorSantiagoPedro Barrientos José Tohá197415 MarchChilean journalistSantiagomilitary Carlos Mugica 11 MayArgentine Roman Catholic priest and activistVilla LuroRodolfo Almirón Silvio Frondizi27 SeptemberArgentine intellectual and lawyerBuenos AiresArgentine Anticommunist Alliance Josiah Mwangi Kariuki19752 MarchKenyan socialist politicianNairobiKenyan police Herbert Chitepo 18 MarchRhodesian ZANU-activistLusakaRhodesian Security Forces Roque Dalton10 MaySalvadoran poet, essayist, journalist, political activist, and intellectualSan SalvadorPeople's Revolutionary Army Omar Benjelloun18 DecemberMoroccan journalist and trade union activistCasablancaChabiba islamia Boonsanong Punyodyana 197628 FebruaryThai socialist politicianBangkokunknown Enrique Angelelli 4 AugustBishop of La RiojaSañogastaArgentinian military Orlando Letelier 21 SeptemberChilean economist, ex-ambassadorWashington, DCDirección de Inteligencia Nacional Janani Luwum 197717 FebruaryUgandan archbishopKampalaIdi Amin regime Rutilio Grande 12 MarchSalvadoran priestAguilaresmobShewalul Mengistu26 MayEthiopian writer and political activistAddis AbabaUnknown Bantu Stephen Biko 12 SeptemberSouth African anti-apartheid activistPretoriaSouth African Police Forces Mir Akbar Khyber 197817 AprilAfghan intellectual and editorKabulUnknown, Possibly Hekmatyar's Hezbi Islami, Khalq Faction of PDPA or Babrak Karmal Henri Curiel 4 MayEgyptian left-wing political activistParisOAS and Charles Martel Group Georgi Markov 11 SeptemberBulgarian dissidentLondonBulgarian secret service Harvey Milk 27 NovemberAmerican LGBT human rights activistSan Francisco, CaliforniaDan White George R. Moscone Mayor of San Francisco José Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana 21 DecemberSpanish Basque activistAngletcar bomb Allard K. Lowenstein 198014 MarchAmerican civil rights activistNew York CityDennis Sweeney Óscar Romero 24 MarchArchbishop of San SalvadorSan Salvadormob Walter Rodney 13 JuneGuyanese historian, political activist and scholarGeorgetownunknown Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz 17 JulyBolivian writer, dramatist, and journalistLa PazLuis Garcia Meza Enrique Álvarez Córdova 27 NovemberSalvadoran politicianSan SalvadorBrígada Anticomunista Maximiliano Hernández Martínez John Lennon 8 DecemberBritish anti-war activist and ex-BeatleNew York CityMark David Chapman Pierre Declercq 198119 September French New Caledonian politicianNouméaunknown Anwar Sadat 6 October President of Egypt and peace activistCairo, EgyptEgyptian Islamic Jihad Attati Mpakati 198324 MarchMalawian dissidentHarareMalawian agents Benigno Aquino Jr. 21 AugustFilipino opposition leaderManila Filipino agents Alan Berg 19841 JanuaryAmerican attorney and talk radio show hostDenver, ColoradoSilent Brotherhood Henry Liu 15 OctoberTaiwanese writer and journalistDaly City, CaliforniaBamboo Union Jerzy Popiełuszko 19 OctoberPolish Roman Catholic priestWłocławekPolish Security Service Éloi Machoro198512 January New Caledonian Kanak politicianCanalaFrench gendarme Fort Calata27 JuneSouth African anti-apartheid activistPort ElizabethSouth African Police Forces Matthew Goniwe Sicelo Mhlauli Sparrow Mkhonto Shahnawaz Bhutto18 July Pakistani democracy activistNiceZia ul-Haq regime Hugo Spadafora13 SeptemberPanamanian activistLa ConcepciónPanamanian governmentMurtaza Bhutto20 SeptemberPakistani democracy activistKarachipolice Gérard Hoarau29 NovemberSeychellois politicianLondonFrance-Albert René regime Olof Palme 198628 FebruaryPrime Minister of SwedenStockholm Peter Tosh 198711 SeptemberJamaican reggae musician and activist for Black liberationKingstonDennis "Leppo" Lobban Jaime Pardo Leal 11 OctoberColombian lawyer and union leaderLa MesaColombian mafia Dulcie September 198829 MarchSouth African anti-apartheid political activistParisSouth African agents Chico Mendes 22 DecemberBrazilian trade unionist and environmentalistXapuriDarci and Darly Alves da Silva, Jerdeir PereiraPat Finucane198912 FebruaryIrish lawyerBelfastKen Barrett David Webster 1 MaySouth African anthropologistTroyevilleSouth African Civil Cooperation Bureau Jean-Marie Tjibaou 4 MayNew Caledonian Kanak politicianOuvéaDjubelly Wéa Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou 13 July Head of the Democratic Party of Iranian KurdistanVienna Iranian agents Luis Carlos Galán 18 AugustColombian journalistBogotáColombian mafia Anton Lubowski 12 SeptemberNamibian anti-apartheid activistWindhoekSouth African Civil Cooperation Bureau Segundo Montes 16 NovemberSalvadoran priestSan SalvadorSalvadoran army Ignacio Ellacuría Salvadoran philosopher and theologian Richard de Zoysa 199018 FebruarySri Lankan journalist and actorRajagiriyaSri Lanka-linked death squad Farag Foda 19929 JuneEgyptian professorHeliopolisAl-Gama'a al-IslamiyyaMarsha P. Johnson 4 JulyGay liberation and AIDS activistNew York CityUnknown (described by witnesses as a "group of thugs") Tavio Amorin 29 JulyTogolese politicianLomépolice Tahar Djaout 199326 MayAlgerian journalist and poetAlgiersArmed Islamic Group Chris Hani 10 AprilSouth African Anti-apartheid activistBoksburgJanusz Waluś Jorge Carpio Nicolle3 JulyGuatemalan newspaper publisherChichicastenangomob Melchior Ndadaye21 OctoberBurundian intellectual and politicianBujumburaBurundi Army Cheb Hasni 199429 SeptemberAlgerian musicianOranArmed Islamic Group Johan Heyns 5 NovemberSouth African Anti-apartheid activistPretoriaWhite South African extremists Iqbal Masih 199516 AprilPakistani child activistMuridkeCarpet Mafia Jaswant Singh Khalra 6 SeptemberIndian human rights activistJhabalKanwar Pal Singh Gill Yitzhak Rabin 4 November Prim