In September 1977, Hamida Djandoubi became the last person executed by guillotine in France and the Western world. The execution took place inside a prison courtyard, away from the public eye.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Robert Badinter, the lawyer and former justice minister who led France to end the death penalty, will be inducted into the ...

In 1977, while most of the world had moved beyond public executions, France carried out one final act of an older justice. A man convicted of murder faced the guillotine - a method of execution first ...