Commutations of sentence and acts of clemency
Archive theme
A death sentence can be turned into a prison sentence by an act of clemency: commutation, pardon, amnesty, remission. These rest with heads of state, courts and clemency boards, and not infrequently arrive within hours of an execution.
For the association they are a concrete front: every commutation is a life, and the countries that grant many of them are often the ones closest to a moratorium in fact. This page collects the news on commutations, pardons and acts of clemency.
Latest news
MAY 31, 2025United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Trump pardons Larry Hoover, notorious drug kingpins
Even as he escalates U.S. drug war rhetoric
MAY 28, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE IN CHILD MURDER CASE
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man convicted of abducting and murdering his six-year-old nephew, instead sentencing him to life imprisonment until his last breath.
MAY 21, 2025PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS ZAHIR JAFFER'S DEATH SENTENCE
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on May 20, 2025 upheld the death penalty of Zahir Zakir Jaffer, a Pakistani-American, who was convicted of murdering 27-year-old Noor Mukadam, daughter of a former diplomat, a lawyer of Mukadam’s father said.
- MAY 13, 2025IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ’S JUSTICE MINISTER SAYS PRISONS ARE AT DOUBLE CAPACITY AS AMNESTY LAW TAKES EFFECT
As a general amnesty law takes effect in Iraq, the country’s prisons are facing a crisis of overcrowding, housing more than double their intended capacity, the country’s justice minister said in an interview on May 3, 2025.
- MAY 7, 2025United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Victims’ Families Remain Divided on Federal Death Penalty
MAY 2, 2025ItalyDEATH PENALTYUSA - Illinois. Former Gov. George Ryan Dies at 91
He cleared death row in 2003
APRIL 24, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: SC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF KERALA MAN WHO KILLED WIFE, 4 CHILDREN IN 2008
Taking into consideration among others, his “consistent efforts at being a model prisoner”, the Supreme Court on April 22, 2025 commuted the death sentence of a Kerala man convicted for the murder of his wife and four children and raping his 12-year-old d
- APRIL 23, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA GIVES SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE TO FORMER XINJIANG OFFICIAL FOR CORRUPTION
Li Pengxin, a former senior official of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes totaling more than 822 million yuan ($112 million), according to a verdict on April 22, 2025.
APRIL 17, 2025GambiaDEATH PENALTYGAMBIA COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OVER JAMMEH-ERA KILLING OF FINANCE MINISTER
Gambia's Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence of a government minister convicted of killing the finance minister to life in prison, one of few to be convicted of crimes committed during the 22-year rule of ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh, Reuters report
APRIL 16, 2025TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. Larry Estrada has death sentence commuted to life
- APRIL 7, 2025MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
TWO YEARS AFTER ABOLISHING THE MANDATORY DEATH PENALTY, DATA SHOWS MALAYSIA MAY BE MOVING ON FOR GOOD
Within two years year of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim administration abolishing the mandatory death penalty, the number of death row inmates has plunged by nearly 90 per cent
APRIL 2, 2025Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTYDR CONGO: DEATH SENTENCE FOR THREE AMERICANS OVER COUP ATTEMPT OVERTURNED
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi has downgraded the death sentences of three United States citizens convicted for taking part in a failed coup attempt last year, reducing their punishments to life imprisonment.
MARCH 31, 2025MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: 5 INDIAN NATIONALS GET DEATH PENALTY CONVERTED TO 30 YEARS’ JAIL FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Malaysia’s Court of Appeal has commuted the death sentences of five Indian nationals to 30 years in prison, finding them guilty on two counts of drug trafficking at a plantation in Rantau, Negeri Sembilan, seven years ago, Free Malaysia Today reported on
MARCH 24, 2025NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN WHO KILLED ATTACKER IN ‘SELF-DEFENCE’
The Supreme Court of Nigeria on March 7, 2025 upheld the death sentence of Sunday Jackson, a farmer in his 30s, for killing a Fulani herdsman, Ardo Bawuro, in an altercation on his farmland.
- MARCH 20, 2025CanadaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA EXECUTED FOUR CANADIANS FOR DRUG CRIMES, SAYS OTTAWA
Four Canadians were executed in China on drug-related charges earlier this year, Canadian authorities confirmed on March 19, 2025.
MARCH 11, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: HC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCES IN TANGAIL BUS RAPE AND MURDER CASE
The High Court on January 27, 2025 commuted the death sentences of three convicts in the 2017 rape and murder of college student Zakia Sultana Rupa in a moving bus near Modhupur upazila in Tangail.
- MARCH 5, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: SUPREME COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF MAN CONVICTED FOR KILLING HIS TWO MINOR CHILDREN TO LIFE WITHOUT REMISSION
The Supreme Court of India commuted the death sentence of Ramesh A. Naika, convicted for the murder of his two minor children, to life imprisonment without the possibility of remission, Law Trend reported on March 3, 2025.
FEBRUARY 28, 2025AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Gov. Ivey commutes death sentence of Robin Myers
63, Black
- FEBRUARY 13, 2025FranceDEATH PENALTY
REPATRIATED FRENCHMAN'S INDONESIA DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED TO 30 YEARS IN PRISON
A Frenchman reprieved after 18 years on death row in Indonesia on drug offenses will have to serve 30 years in jail after being repatriated last week, a French court ruled February 12, 2025.
FEBRUARY 7, 2025North CarolinaDEATH PENALTYUSA - North Carolina. Hasson Bacote's death sentence overturned ‘on racial grounds’
Other cases may follow
- FEBRUARY 6, 2025FranceDEATH PENALTY
FRENCHMAN ATLAOUI RETURNS TO PARIS AFTER REPRIEVE FROM DEATH ROW IN INDONESIA
A Frenchman reprieved after 18 years on death row in Indonesia for alleged drug offences landed back in France on February 5, 2025, an airport source said.
FEBRUARY 3, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: DEATH PENALTY IN DOUBLE MURDER COMMUTED TO LIFE SENTENCE
The Taichung branch of the High Court on January 22, 2025 overturned Yang Hung-ju’s death penalty and sentenced him to life in prison for double homicide.
FEBRUARY 1, 2025United StatesDEATH BY PUNISHMENTUSA - 194.000 persons serving life sentences
A study by The Sentencing Project
JANUARY 31, 2025South CarolinaDEATH PENALTYUSA - South Carolina. Marion Bowman, 44, Black, was executed
First execution in the US of the new year
- JANUARY 29, 2025PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: IHC COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY OF TWO CONVICTS TO LIFE TERM IN OSAMA SATTI MURDER CASE
The Islamabad High Court on January 22, 2025 commuted the death sentence of two convicts in Osama Satti murder case to life imprisonment and acquitting three others.
JANUARY 24, 2025DEATH PENALTYUSA - Former death row prisoners may be heading to Florence, Colorado
The ‘Alcatraz of the Rockies’
- JANUARY 22, 2025United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Trump suggests state death penalty for those commuted by Biden. Is that possible?
"Highly unlikely", legal experts say
- JANUARY 18, 2025United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - A third man, Iouri Mikhel, rejects Biden's pardon
JANUARY 17, 2025United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Biden grants clemency to 2490 convicted of non-violent drug offences
- JANUARY 15, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: ORISSA HC COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY OF 9 TO LIFE SENTENCE
The Orissa High Court on January 15, 2025 commuted the death sentences of nine individuals to life imprisonment in connection with a 2016 triple murder case.