Death penalty

USA - South Carolina. House Judiciary Committee approved electric chair and firing squad

The bill already cleared the Senate

USA - Tennessee. House and Senate pass bill to stop executions of intellectually disabled

Implications for the case of Pervis Payne

EGYPT: ISIL-LINKED GROUP CLAIMS EXECUTION OF COPT, 2 TRIBESMEN

An Islamic State-affiliated group has claimed the execution of a Coptic Christian and two tribesmen in Egypt’s restive Sinai region, in a video posted on its Telegram channel, Aljazeera reported on 19 April 2021.

IRAN - Nazanin Sentenced to Another Year Behind Bars

British-Iranian hostage Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

VIETNAM: HANOI DRUG TRAFFICKER SENTENCED TO DEATH

A Da Nang court sentenced one man to death and a woman to life imprisonment on 24 April 2021 for storing and transporting five kilos of drugs.

IRAN - Habibullah Sheikh-Hossein executed on April 26

In Sabzevar Prison, on drug charges

USA - Texas. Court Recommends New Trial for Clinton Young

TAIWAN UNCHANGED ON EVENTUAL GOAL OF ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY: MINISTER OF JUSTICE

Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang said on 21 April 2021 that Taiwan remains on track to abolish capital punishment despite an execution and five death sentences last year.

VIETNAM: 2 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRANSPORTING 31 KG OF METHAMPHETAMINE

A Ha Tinh court on 20 April 2021 sentenced two people to death and another to life imprisonment for transporting 31 kg of methamphetamine.

IRAN -Seyyed Sadrollah Fazeli Zare is the second man sentenced to death for "insulting the Prophet"

IRAN - 6 men executed in Birjand Prison on April 24

Baluch men sentenced on drug-related charges

IRAN - Two men sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet Muhammad

Only one of the men has been identified: Yousef Mehrad

SOMALIA: PUNTLAND MILITARY COURT HANDS DOWN DEATH SENTENCE TO FIVE SHABAB MEMBERS

Court of the Armed forces of the Puntland State of Somalia on 21 April 2021 handed down death sentence to five Shabab members who were found guilty in what the court said a series of assassinations and planting landmines in Galkacyo and some parts of the

INDONESIA: SIX TERRORISTS GET DEATH PENALTY FOR DEADLY RIOT

The East Jakarta district court on 21 April 2021 sentenced to death six terrorists responsible for the deadly riot at a detention center outside Jakarta in May 2018.

DEATH PENALTY IN 2020: EXECUTIONS DOWN A QUARTER – AMNESTY’S NEW REPORT

The number of executions recorded by Amnesty International during 2020 fell by a quarter compared to the previous year - one of the findings of the organisation’s authoritative annual overview of capital punishment across the world, published on 21 April

NIGERIA: DETAINED WITHOUT CHARGES, RENOWNED ATHEIST STILL IN PRISON

The self-proclaimed atheist Mubarak Bala is still in detention in northern Nigeria after he was arrested by the police and taken to an unknown destination, according to his family and human rights organizations, Afp reported on 20 April 2021.

USA - Texas. TDCJ Revises Execution Protocol

To Permit Spiritual Advisers in Death Chamber

IRAN - Iran at the bottom of reporters’ freedom

According to Reporters Sans Frontières Iran ranks 174 amid 180

IRAQ: APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR SULAIMANI MAN WHO KILLED WIFE AND CHILDREN

Erbil’s Court of Appeals has upheld a death sentence for a man who burned his wife and three children to death in December 2018 in Sulaimani province, the victims’ lawyer told Rudaw on 19 April 2021.

INDIA: TRAIN BLAST CONVICT DIES OF COVID-19

Kamal Ansari (51), a death row convict of 2006 Mumbai serial train blast case, died of Covid-19 in a Nagpur hospital on 19 April 2021.

GLOBAL DEATH PENALTY REPORT: EXECUTIONS FOR DRUG OFFENSES DOWN 75% WORLDWIDE

Executions for drug offenses plummeted worldwide during 2020, according to a new report by the global drug-policy monitor Harm Reduction International (HRI).

SINGAPORE: NGO RELEASES SONG PENNED BY MALAYSIAN DEATH ROW INMATE TO SPREAD AWARENESS

A new Malaysian NGO, Sebaran Kasih has embarked on producing a song written by an inmate, Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, who is in the Changi Prison in Singapore awaiting execution, the New Straits Times reported on 17 April 2021.

USA - Sonia Sotomayor’s Lonely Battle at the Supreme Court

To Give the Voiceless a Voice

IRAN - Unsolved Case of Ukraine’s Flight 752

Downed By Iran’s IRGC

COUNCIL OF EUROPE: MEASURES AGAINST THE TRADE IN GOODS USED FOR TORTURE OR EXECUTION

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on 31 March 2021 adopted a Recommendation (CM/Rec(2021)2) inviting member States to take measures against the trade in goods used for the death penalty, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment o

IRAN - Cellmate Describes Torture and Humiliation of Ali Younesi

USA - Senators Urge Biden To Shut Down Guantánamo

Calling It A 'Symbol Of Lawlessness'

TAIWAN: HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR ARSONIST WHO CAUSED NINE DEATHS

The Taiwan High Court on 14 April 2021 upheld the death penalty handed down to Li Kuo-hui, an ethnic Chinese from Myanmar, for starting a fire in an apartment building in Zhonghe, New Taipei in November 2017 that resulted in the deaths of nine people.

USA - Arizona. State Paid $1.5 Million for Execution Drugs

While Facing a Budget Crisis

MYANMAR: REGIME HANDS MENTALLY ILL MAN DEATH SENTENCE

A person who suffers from mental illness was sentenced to death along with 18 other people by Myanmar’s military regime on 8 April 2021 after being accused of banditry and murder in North Okkalapa Township, Yangon, in late March.