ExecutedToday.com » 1977: Hamida Djandoubi, Madame Guillotine’s last kiss 1977: Hamida Djandoubi, Madame Guillotine’s last kiss September 10th, 2008 Headsman On this date in 1977, the guillotine claimed its last head. The famous and infamous blade dropped for the last time at Les Baumettes prison in Marseilles on Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian immigrant convicted of the torture-murder of the naive young girlfriend he had forced into prostitution. Oddly, he had already had another appendage — a leg — amputated as a result of a work accident; it was while recuperating that he caught the fascination of his hospital roommate’s 19-year-old daughter, Elisabeth Bousquet. Though the death penalty was grinding to a halt in 1970’s France, Djandoubi was not the last person condemned (the link is French); the guillotine was only abolished with the election of the Francois Mitterand government in 1981.

Today, Executed Today discusses the case with the man who wrote the book on Djandoubi :* expat Canadian writer Jeremy Mercer . Be sure to check his photo series on the Djandoubi case — including discomfiting shots of Djandoubi re-enacting his crime with a police secretary playing the victim, and the killer in happier times. ET: Thanks for joining us. JM: Thanks for the opportunity to speak with Executed Today. I moved to Marseille in 2003 and shortly after I stumbled upon the rather arcane fact that the last man guillotined in France was executed at the local prison on September 10, 1977. I thought it was interesting angle on capital punishment and I decided to try and write a book that mixed true crime and death penalty philosophy. As a result, I’ve been immersed in the death penalty debate for the better part of five years. Let’s start with Hamida Djandoubi himself — 31 years on, he looks like a nasty but fairly run-of-the-mill criminal. Was it strictly coincidental that he became the last man executed? It was absolutely random fate.

It was really odd – during the 1970s, the death penalty debate was raging in France and most capital cases became national news. But the Djandoubi case went completely under the radar, partly because his lawyer didn’t drum up any attention and partly because his victim was a presumed prostitute and the media prefers ‘sexier’ victims – the elderly, little children, a dentist of good standing walking her dog at night. Even odder, if you surveyed most French people today, they would tell you that Christian Ranucci was the last man guillotined. Ranucci was a young white man who was accused of killing a little girl. He claimed his innocence, but was nonetheless executed in June 1976 (14 months before Djandoubi). Afterward, a best-selling book and major film were released that argued Ranucci was innocent so his name really sticks in the minds of the French. Obviously, there’s plenty of tension with North African communities in France still today. Djandoubi was Tunisian, and he was convicted of murdering a white woman. How significant was racial marking in the way his case was handled, inside the courts and out? This is really curious.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the French courts were tainted by racism and one of the national papers even ran an editorial saying that it is better to be named “Marius than Mohamed” when appearing before a French judge. But, in this case, it was Djandoubi’s own lawyer who was a member of a far-right party and staunchly anti-Arab so his case was undermined even before it went to court. It is one of those frustrating moments. You assume that a death penalty case is of such importance that top professionals are involved. Instead, Djandoubi chose the civil lawyer who negotiated his accident benefits after he had an accident at work and ended up with a very poor defence. As I said above, his murder victim had worked as a prostitute, which diminished some of the public outrage. As well, his three rape victims were all Algerian girls aged 14 – 16. I guarantee you the case would have been much more explosive if those three girls had been white. Your book is partly about Djandoubi himself, and partly about the history of the death penalty and especially the guillotine in France.

How had the guillotine shifted in France’s identity by the time of this execution? At first, when the guillotine was introduced , it was public sensation and executioners became celebrities with special edition postcards in their honour and fan mail and all that. As late as the 1860s, tour groups like Thomas Cook were actually organizing execution trips so English tourists could see the guillotine at work. But, bit by bit, the French became a little embarrassed by the fame of the machine. First, they removed the scaffolding that raised the guillotine above the crowds so that it would be brought down to earth and spectators’ views would be impaired; then, they stopped holding executions in the afternoon and held them at the less fan-friendly time of dawn; then, instead of guillotining people right downtown, they did it outside a prison in an obscure neighborhood at the edge of Paris; and, finally, in the 1930s they moved the guillotine inside the prison walls and it was no longer a public event. By the 1970s, the guillotine held such a low profile that many people thought it was defunct and that the French government was using the electric chair.

Interestingly enough, the fall from glory of the guillotine mirrors the general attitude toward capital punishment. By the late 1800s, many countries were already abolishing the death penalty and by the 1970s France was the last country in Western Europe to resort to capital punishment. In the end, the guillotine became the country’s dirty little secret that they kept hidden in their closet. What are the bits of guillotine folklore you found most interesting? The most popular stories involve the life in the head after it is severed from the body. It all began with the guillotining of Charlotte Corday , who had stabbed Jean-Paul Marat to death as he soaked in his bathtub. After she was guillotined, the executioner held her head up to the crowd and slapped her on the cheek. But, according to newspaper accounts, both cheeks reddened, as if Corday was indignant by this treatment. Suddenly, everyone began to wonder what a severed head can feel or think. This curiosity became even more intense a few weeks later when the chief executioner, Charles Henri Sanson, guillotined two political rivals one after the other.

He told friends that when he looked in the basket where he kept the heads, one politician’s head was biting the other politician’s head! So, all this got the scientists really excited and the experiments began. One doctor, Dassy de Ligières, was allowed to take a head back to his laboratory where he connected it to a living dog and pumped blood back into it. He kept hoping the head would speak, but alas, no. The definitive experiment was conducted in 1905 when Dr. Beaurieux was given permission to wait beside the guillotine and examine the head the moment it was cut. Dr. Beaurieux interviewed the condemned man in prison and came up with a pre-arranged set of signals. The day of the execution, the doctor had incredible luck –the head did a little twist when falling and landed on the stump, slowing the loss of blood. Dr. Beaurieux then called the man’s name three times. At 5 seconds, the man was able to look at the doctor and his recognize him; at 15 seconds, the man was able to look at the doctor but his eyes were unfocussed; and at 25 seconds, the man could barely glance at the doctor.

So, to the best of our knowledge, a guillotined head maintains some level of consciousness for more than 20 seconds. You’re working with Robert Badinter — tell us about him, and his upcoming tour in the U.S. Robert Badinter is simply the greatest man I’ve ever had the honor of working with. He became a dedicated abolitionist after one of his clients was unjustly guillotined in 1972 and dedicated the next decade of his life to fighting the death penalty. In the end, he saved six lives and ultimately wrote the legislation that abolished the death penalty in 1981 when François Mitterrand named him Minister of Justice. I interviewed Badinter for my own book in 2005 and he asked me if I could look into translating one of his books into English. When I had time in 2007, I set about the task and now Abolition has been released by Northeastern University Press. Badinter’s Abolition, in French and in Mercer’s translation To mark the book’s release, Badinter will be holding three conferences in America on the death penalty and strategies to abolish it: September 25 at Georgetown University in Washington .

Why, in your judgment, did France abolish the death penalty? And even before abolition, why did its use abate so dramatically in the postwar era? For many people, it was a tremendous humiliation for France, the birthplace of human rights and the Enlightenment, to be the last country in Western Europe to use the death penalty. The abolition movement began when Portugal abolished the death penalty for common crimes in 1867 and by the late 1970s, nobody was using it in Europe. Even in Spain , one of the first things they did after the death of Franco was abolish the death penalty. So, the use of the guillotine simply had to abate because the world was becoming aware that the death penalty is a flawed punishment: the risk of executing innocents, the cost of capital trials, the predominance of poor and minorities on death row, the lack of deterrence value. But, as long as there was a right-wing government in power in France, they couldn’t abolish the death penalty because they wanted to appear tough on crime and polls showed a majority of the French people wanted to keep the guillotine.

Once Mitterrand and the Socialists were elected in May 1981, it was clear the death penalty would be abolished, and sure enough, five months later it was gone Where do you think the death penalty is going in America? And can one really think of worldwide abolition as a legitimate possibility? I am absolutely convinced we will see almost worldwide abolition by 2050. There will always be a few rogue states, but the death penalty is such an obviously flawed form of punishment it will inevitably be eliminated. In terms of America, Badinter and I have discussed it at length. He believes the country is ready for abolition and that all is needed is one trigger case: a middle class white guy with a reasonable claim to innocence who is about to executed. This would really instigate a debate on the penalty and as soon as you bring in all stats – the 130 plus people who have been exonerated while on death row, the work of the Innocence Project, the race bias, the cost of capital trials, the overworked public defenders etc etc – I think it would be a slam dunk. Personally, I think people are selling the abolition the wrong way.

Every time I meet a die-hard death penalty supporter who wants a serial killer or a child rapist killed, I ask him or her “Why are you so merciful?” Because, I honestly believe life in prison is a far worse punishment than being executed. * Here’s a review of Mercer’s book. On this day.. The guillotine falls silent - Sep 10, 1977 - HISTORY.com The guillotine falls silent Publisher A+E Networks At Baumetes Prison in Marseille, France, Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant convicted of murder, becomes the last person executed by guillotine. The guillotine first gained fame during the French Revolution when physician and revolutionary Joseph-Ignace Guillotin won passage of a law requiring all death sentences to be carried out by “means of a machine.” Decapitating machines had been used earlier in Ireland and England, and Guillotin and his supporters viewed these devices as more humane than other execution techniques, such as hanging or firing squad. A French decapitating machine was built and tested on cadavers, and on April 25, 1792, a highwayman became the first person in Revolutionary France to be executed by this method.

The device soon became known as the “guillotine” after its advocate, and more than 10,000 people lost their heads by guillotine during the Revolution, including Louis XVI and Mary Antoinette, the former king and queen of France. Use of the guillotine continued in France in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the last execution by guillotine occurred in 1977. In September 1981, France outlawed capital punishment altogether, thus abandoning the guillotine forever. There is a museum dedicated to the guillotine in Liden, Sweden. Related Videos Hamida Djandoubi About Hamida Djandoubi Hamida Djandoubi (c. 1949 – 10 September 1977) was the last person to be guillotined in France, at Baumettes Prison in Marseille. He was a Tunisian immigrant who had been convicted of the torture and murder of 21-year-old Elisabeth Bousquet, his former girlfriend, in Marseille. Marcel Chevalier served as chief executioner.

Born in Tunisia around 1949, Djandoubi started living and working in Marseille, France, in 1968 as a packer. He lost his job in 1971 after a workplace accident resulted in the loss of two-thirds of his right leg. In 1973, a 21-year-old woman named Elisabeth Bousquet filed a complaint against Djandoubi, who was her lover, for illegal confinement and cruelty, claiming that he had tried to force her into prostitution. After his arrest and eventual release from custody during the spring of 1973, Djandoubi drew two other young girls into his confidence and then forced them to "work" for him. The idea of taking revenge on his accuser never left his mind, however, and in July 1974, he kidnapped Bousquet and took her into his home where, in full view of the terrified girls, he beat the woman before stubbing a lit cigarette all over her breasts and genital area. Bousquet survived the ordeal so Djandoubi took her by car to an outskirt of Marseille and strangled her there.

On his return Djandoubi warned the two girls to say nothing of what they had seen, and it was not until Bousquet's body was identified one month after its discovery in a shed by two children on 7 July 1974 that the girls took their story to the authorities. After a lengthy pre-trial process, Djandoubi eventually appeared in court in Aix-en-Provence on charges of torture-murder, rape and premeditated violence on 24 February 1977. His main defence revolved around the supposed effects of the amputation of his leg six years earlier which his lawyer claimed had driven him to a paroxysm of alcohol and violence, turning him into a different man. On 25 February he was condemned to death. An appeal against his sentence was rejected on 9 June, and in the early morning of 10 September 1977, Djandoubi was informed that he would not receive a presidential reprieve. Shortly afterwards, at 4:40 a.m., he was executed. Capital punishment is now abolished in France.

Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z This article is based on "Hamida Djandoubi" from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia ( It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation Licencse . In the Wikipedia you can find a list of the authors by visiting the following address: Hamida Djandoubi - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia I Live my life to the Fullest!!! coz you know you only get one !!! Hamida Djandoubi Cause of death Executed by guillotine Other names "Pimp Killer" Criminal status Executed by guillotine on September 10, 1977 Died September 10, 1977, Marseille, France Hamida Djandoubi (Arabic: حميدة جندوبي‎) (c. 1949 – 10 September 1977) was the last person to be executed in France, and the last person legally executed by beheading in the Western world.

He was a Tunisian immigrant who had been convicted of the torture and murder of 21-year-old Elisabeth Bousquet in Marseille. Marcel Chevalier served as chief executioner. Early life Born in Tunisia in 1949, in 1968 Djandoubi started living in Marseille and working in a grocery store. He went on to work as a landscaper but had a workplace accident in 1971 that resulted in the loss of two thirds of his right leg. In 1973, a 21-year-old woman named Elisabeth Bousquet, whom Djandoubi had met in the hospital while recovering from his amputation, filed a complaint against him, stating that he had tried to force her into prostitution. Murder of Elisabeth Bousquet After his arrest and eventual release from custody during the spring of 1973, Djandoubi drew two other young girls into his confidence and then forced them to "work" for him.

In July 1974, he kidnapped Bousquet and took her into his home where, in full view of the terrified girls, he beat the woman before stubbing a lit cigarette all over her breasts and genital area. Bousquet survived the ordeal so Djandoubi took her by car to the outskirts of Marseille and strangled her there. On his return Djandoubi warned the two girls to say nothing of what they had seen. Bousquet's body was discovered in a shed by a boy on 7 July 1974. One month later, Djandoubi kidnapped another girl who managed to escape and report him to police. Trial and execution After a lengthy pre-trial process, Djandoubi eventually appeared in court in Aix-en-Provence on charges of torture-murder, rape and premeditated violence on 25 February 1977. His main defense revolved around the supposed effects of the amputation of his leg six years earlier which his lawyer claimed had driven him to a paroxysm of alcohol abuse and violence, turning him into a different man. Sponsored Links On 25 February he was condemned to death.

An appeal against his sentence was rejected on 9 June, and in the early morning of 10 September 1977, Djandoubi was informed that he, like the child murderers Christian Ranucci (guillotined on 28 July 1976) and Jerome Carrein (guillotined on 23 June 1977), had not received a reprieve from President Valery Giscard d'Estaing. Shortly afterwards, at 4:40 a.m., he was executed by guillotine at Baumettes Prison in Marseille. While Djandoubi was the last person executed in France, he was not the last condemned. No more executions occurred after capital punishment was abolished in France in 1981 following the election of Francois Mitterrand. On This Day in History, September 10 On This Day in History Home On This Day On This Day in History, September 10 On This Day in History, September 10 What Happened On This Day – September 10 2014 First Invictus Games Held The international games bring together wounded armed forces personnel and veterans who compete in athletic competitions.

The 2014 Invictus Games were held at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England. 300 competitors from 13 countries participated in the games. The next games will take place in 2016. 2008 Large Hadron Collider Goes Live The world’s largest particle collider, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). It is an 18-mile (27km) long experimental machine which passes through the French-Swiss border. The Collider was constructed to find the Higgs Boson particle, an elementary particle in physics. 1977 Last Person to be Executed in France Hamida Djandoubi was also the last person to be executed by a guillotine. Djandoubi was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of 21-year old Elisabeth Bousquet. 1960 Baghdad Conference Begins The 5-day long conference in Iraq’s capital city ended with the creation of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), an intergovernmental organization of oil-producing countries. Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela were the original members of the group.

Today, there are 13 members of the organization. OPEC is responsible for coordinating and unifying oil and gas policies in member states and for creating an efficient and fair system of production, sale, and investment in the petroleum industry. 1846 Patent For Sewing Machine Awarded The United States’ Patent Office awarded a patent for the first sewing machine with a lockstitch design to Elias Howe from Spencer, Massachusetts. While he had little success marketing his machine in the US, machines similar to his design became very successful, especially among women. The similarity of the machine sold by Isaac Singer, founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company to Howe’s machine prompted Howe to take Singer to court. He won the case. Did You Know That The Most Recent Execution By Guillotine In France Was In 1977? - WorldAtlas.com Did You Know Did You Know That The Most Recent Execution By Guillotine In France Was In 1977? Hamida Djandoubi was beheaded by guillotine on September 10th, 1977, the last execution to be carried out in the nation of France. A model of a 19th Century guillotine.

History of the Guillotine in France The mention of a guillotine evokes horrifying images of bloody, beheading executions in our minds. These feared death machines were rampantly used during the French Revolution of the 18th Century. However, the history of decapitating devices dates back even further in time. A guillotine-like device was already in use in Ireland in 1307, and in Italy and Southern France in the 16th Century. The use of the guillotine in France was first promoted in 1789 by Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotine, a physician and a deputy of the National Assembly of France. The first guillotine was designed in 1792 by a German piano maker named Tobias Schmidt, and was first tested on animals and human corpses. The first criminal to be decapitated by a guillotine was Nicolas Pelletier, a thief and assaulter who was beheaded on April 25th, 1792.

However, the guillotine earned its fierce reputation only during the French Revolution, when nearly 40,000 victims, many of whom were likely innocent, were subjected to death under blade of the feared guillotine. At one time, the guillotine claimed as many as 3,000 lives in a single month during the French Revolutionary Period. Blood from decapitated bodies in public execution sites flowed down the streets and into the gutters, creating an atmosphere of terror in the region. The most discussed guillotine victims were King Louis XVI, and his queen, Marie-Antoinette, who were killed in 1793 for charges of treason against the new French Republic. After the French Revolution, public executions with the guillotine continued until 1939, when the last person to be publicly executed was the six-time murderer Eugen Weidmann. In the 1940’s, during the Second World War, the number of executions by guillotine rose once again, and then began to fall in the period between the 1950's and 1970's.

The Case of Hamida Djandoubi Hamida Djandoubi, who was born in Tunisia in 1949 and later settled in Marseilles, France, was an infamous murderer who shocked the world with the brutal and inhumane murder of a Frenchwoman named Elisabeth Bousquet. Djandoubi, a grocery store worker and, later, a landscaper, met with a workplace accident in 1971 that led to the loss of two-thirds of his right leg. In 1973, a complaint was filed against him by the 21 year-old Elisabeth Bousquet, who claimed he had forced her into prostitution. After his imprisonment and release from custody, he wouldn't forget Bousquet, and decided to take revenge upon the poor woman. In July of 1974, Djandoubi kidnapped Bousquet and, at his home in front of the horrified eyes of two other girls in his capture, he tortured Bousquet in an inhumane manner, beating her and stubbing lit cigarettes over her private parts. Finally, he took her away in his car to the city’s outskirts, where he killed her by strangling.

After Bousquet’s body was discovered, and another girl who had been kidnapped by Djandoubi had managed to escape and report him to the police, further investigations were made. It was not long before Djandoubi’s terrible tale of crime came to the forefront of the French media and justice system. He was arrested on charges of premeditated torture, murder, and rape, and consequently sentenced to death on February 25th, 1977. His appeal against his sentence was rejected and, on September 10th, 1977, he was executed by beheading on the guillotine. His death is currently marked as the last executed death sentence in France. The Abolition of the Guillotine and Current Status of the Death Penalty in France For a long time, the death penalty in France had been a topic of heated debate, with many favoring it as the right way to punish the guilty for their horrendous crimes, while others disapproved of the fact that such executions, in their eyes, completely smothered out the flames of human life and basic rights.

Finally, on August 26th, 1981, the Council of Ministers of the French Parliament approved the bill to abolish the death penalty in the country. It was soon passed by the Assemblée Nationale, and was implemented in the nation. Thus, brought to an end was the role of the infamous French guillotine, and Djandoubi's 1977 execution still stands as the last capital punishment administered by the French legal system. This page was last modified on September 19, 2016. On WorldAtlas.com Hamida Djandoubi. Off with his head! | 77to15 Hamida Djandoubi. Off with his head! At 4:40am on 10 September 1977 Tunisian born Hamida Djandoubi was executed by guillotine at Baumettes Prison, Marseille, France. He was to be the last person to suffer the infamous fate as the french abolished capital punishment in 1981. Hamida Djandoubi detained by French police.

Hamida Djandoubi moved to the French mediterranean city of Marseille in 1968 and worked there for a while as a grocer. In 1968 French filmmaker Claude Lelouche, directed his seminal film, La Vie, l’Amour, la Mort (Life, love, death) which was released the following year. The film is prophetic and–coincidentally or not–mirrored the events surrounding the final decade of Djandoubi’s life. I would be surprised if Djandoubi hadn’t seen this film and indeed modelled his ‘pimp killer’ character on that of the film’s protagonist, he therefore knew his awaiting fate. Here is the powerful final scene from Lelouche’s film, showing the lead up to the execution. English language poster for Claude Lelouche’s film Love, life, death. In 1974 Hamida Djandoubi murdered a 21 year old French woman named, Élisabeth Bousquet. The previous year Bousquet had filed a report to police accusing Djandoubi of trying to force her into prostitution.

Following his arrest and release Djandoubi kidnapped Bousquet and took her to his home where she was violently beaten in-front of two other women who had apparently been successfully employed as prostitutes by Djandoubi. Bousquet was then forcibly taken to the outskirts of Marseille where she was again brutally beaten and eventually strangled to death. Djandoubi returned to his home and threatened the two women not to speak of what they had witnessed. Djandoubi was eventually apprehended by police following another kidnap attempt of a young woman who managed to escape and report the crime. GUILLOTINÉ. Headline in French newspaper following the execution. The title of the YouTube video below suggests that it shows the final guillotine execution, but it is quite possible that it is in-fact the execution of Eugen Weidmann, the last person to be publicly executed in France. Still it is interesting that this video is available online.

So whether the gif I posted in an earlier post (and below) shows the actual execution of Djandoubi or not (it looks identical to the video) I still find it fascinating that it just exists detached, online, that someone has created this, and that it loops over, and over in our collective memory. The replay of these events, whether in actual documentation or in fiction, I feel is something that poses some very interesting questions, especially in light of the current situation in Iraq and Syria with Islamic state and their practice of decapitation documented and distributed over the web. A simple Google Image search will reveal images and videos of their victims. Of course decapitation has a long history as a form of punishment. That ended in France 38 years ago today but it still goes on–Whether sanctioned by the state, as in some countries of the Middle East or illegally as in the example of IS–the removal of the head is a powerful metaphor that cuts right to the core of our consciousness, and as such the image of the act is integral to reinforcing this.

From the images of Mythology: Perseus holding aloft the severed head of Medusa, Salome with the head of John the Baptist on a platter, and Judith with the head of Holophernes, decapitation is a common allegorical theme in the visual arts. The power of the image, the re-play; these provide evidence, they act as a warning, and they act as a symbol, a sign, and a metaphor. It is also interesting then to note that Djandoubi was made to re-enact his crime by police. A police secretary, Nadine Pache played the role of Élisabeth Bousquet while the real-life murderer, manacled to a police officer was forced to reconstruct the event [link] That somehow we need an image, no matter whether it is constructed after the event or not, we need something concrete to make ‘real’ the abstract image in our mind, to act as a form of emotional closure. I think that Gerhard Richter by painting his 18 Oktober 1977 cycle was questioning precisely this.

Another German artist Hans-Peter Feldman shows us the power of the image too in his work, but particularly powerfully in Das Museum im Kopf (The Museum in the Head, 1989). I’ll discuss this further in another post. Although execution by guillotine was rare in France there was another in 1977: On 23 June 1977 Jérôme Henri Carrein was executed for the brutal rape and murder by strangulation of an 8 year old girl. Jérôme Henri Carrein was executed by guillotine at Baumettes Prison on 23 June 1977. La Vie, l’Amour, la Mort Here’s the full version of Claude Lelouche’s film. in French (no English subtitles). Further reading: September 10, 1977 : The guillotine falls silent Introduction At Baumetes Prison in Marseille, France, Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant convicted of murder, becomes the last person executed by guillotine.

The guillotine first gained fame during the French Revolution when physician and revolutionary Joseph-Ignace Guillotin won passage of a law requiring all death sentences to be carried out by “means of a machine.” Decapitating machines had been used earlier in Ireland and England, and Guillotin and his supporters viewed these devices as more humane than other execution techniques, such as hanging or firing squad. A French decapitating machine was built and tested on cadavers, and on April 25, 1792, a highwayman became the first person in Revolutionary France to be executed by this method. The device soon became known as the “guillotine” after its advocate, and more than 10,000 people lost their heads by guillotine during the Revolution, including Louis XVI and Mary Antoinette, the former king and queen of France. Use of the guillotine continued in France in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the last execution by guillotine occurred in 1977. In September 1981, France outlawed capital punishment altogether, thus abandoning the guillotine forever. There is a museum dedicated to the guillotine in Liden, Sweden.

Article Details: September 10, 1977 : The guillotine falls silent Author September 10, 1977 : The guillotine falls silent URL The Guillotine Was Still Around In The Late 1900s The Guillotine Was Still Around In The Late 1900s The Guillotine Was Still Around In The Late 1900s On September 10, 1977, Hamida Djandoubi became the last person to be executed by guillotine in France. Djandoubi had been convicted of torturing and murdering his girlfriend, and his sentence was carried out by Marcel Chevalier, France's chief executioner. Public outcry against the guillotine only rose after his death, and in 1981, France abolished the death penalty entirely. Share the knowledge! Key Facts In This Video 1 Dr. Gabriel Beaurieux attested that the eyes of a newly severed head looked up at him after he called the executed man's name. (0:33) 2 One study showed that electrical activity in the brain indicative of conscious thought continued in mice for about four seconds after decapitation.

(1:13) 3 Dr. Sergio Canavero has proposed a method for a head transplant that would involve decapitation. (2:16) View More Topics Sept. 10, 1977: Heads Roll for the Last Time in France | WIRED Sept. 10, 1977: Heads Roll for the Last Time in France subscribe 6 months for $5 - plus a FREE Portable Phone Charger. On Twitter 4 hours A comedy about the apocalypse—penned by @neilhimself —is slated for 2018. So there's that to look forward to at least bit.ly/2jcWNvp Author: Tony Long. Tony Long Science Date of Publication: 09.10.07. Time of Publication: 12:00 pm. 12:00 pm Sept. 10, 1977: Heads Roll for the Last Time in France 1977: France stages its last execution using the guillotine. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Contact wiredlabs@wired.com to report an issue.

A Tunisian immigrant living in Marseilles, Hamida Djandoubi, was executed for the torture-slaying of his girlfriend. He had killed her in revenge, after she reported to authorities that he had tried to force her into prostitution. The guillotine, despite its associations with the French Revolution, was not native to France. Variants were used in other European countries long before Marie Antoinette and Citizen Robespierre lost their heads. One machine was used as early as 1307 to dispense justice in Ireland. France's preferred method of doing away with offenders prior to the Revolution was breaking on the wheel, a ghoulish medieval practice meant to inflict as much pain as possible prior to final release. The guillotine was adopted by Louis XVI as a humane form of execution. Louis himself was soon to find out just how humane it really was. As was the unfortunate Mr. Djandoubi nearly two centuries later. His appeal denied, Djandoubi mounted the scaffold at 4:40 a.m. on the 10th. Marcel Chevalier, France's chief executioner, dropped the blade.

The method, already under intense criticism from opponents of capital punishment, drew more fire following Djandoubi's execution, when a doctor in attendance testified that Djandoubi remained responsive for up to 30 seconds after decapitation. It was not the first time that the condemned appeared to remain conscious for an uncomfortably long period of time before life finally oozed out. Henri Languille , guillotined in 1905, reportedly looked at a witness who called out his name — after being decapitated. Chevalier's son, Eric, was also present at the execution. He was there to observe, and to prepare for eventually succeeding his father as the nation's chief executioner. As it was, Eric had to find another line of work when France officially abolished the death penalty in 1981. (Source: Various)

Question: Hamida Djandoubi was the last person in France to be executed by what method, in September 1977?
Answer: Guillotine