The people on death row
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On death row live the people who have been sentenced and are waiting to be executed. The wait can last years or decades, often in isolation, with a date that arrives or is put off again and again. It is a punishment inside the punishment, and in many countries the number of people held there is the hardest figure of all to obtain.
This page collects the news on the people on death row, on the conditions they are held in, and on the numbers the association is able to document.
Latest news
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama said she was still...
Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama said she was still convinced that the death penalty should be retained in Japan, days after she approved the third execution of a death row inmate while she was in office
- AUGUST 8, 2003ArmeniaDEATH PENALTY
Prisoners on death row at Nubarashen prison, Armenia,...
Prisoners on death row at Nubarashen prison, Armenia, demanded a meeting with the leaders of the Armenian National Assembly
- AUGUST 1, 2003BotswanaDEATH PENALTY
"The execution of a convicted murderer last month has...
"The execution of a convicted murderer last month has re-opened the controversy over the administration of the death penalty in Botswana," said an All Africa editorial
- JULY 23, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Forty-nine people on death row in Vietnam's southern...
Forty-nine people on death row in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City were expected to be executed soon, after their appeals for presidential clemency had been rejected, state media said
- JULY 9, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Four people on death-row in Vietnam, including Le My...
Four people on death-row in Vietnam, including Le My Linh, an Australian citizen of Vietnamese origin, had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment
- JULY 2, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW)...
International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Saudi Arabia to spare two female housemaids, from Indonesia and the Philippines, on death row for allegedly killing their female employers
- JULY 2, 2003PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW)...
International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Saudi Arabia to spare two female housemaids, from Indonesia and the Philippines, on death row for allegedly killing their female employers
- JULY 2, 2003IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW)...
International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Saudi Arabia to spare two female housemaids, from Indonesia and the Philippines, on death row for allegedly killing their female employers
- JUNE 30, 2003GhanaDEATH PENALTY
President John Agyekum Kufuor granted amnesty to a...
President John Agyekum Kufuor granted amnesty to a number of prisoners including those on the death row, life sentence and first offenders
- JUNE 24, 2003UgandaDEATH PENALTY
In the first attempt ever, over 200 inmates on death...
In the first attempt ever, over 200 inmates on death row in Uganda signed a constitutional petition to eliminate the death penalty from the country's laws
- JUNE 8, 2003South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
All Africa reported that more than 200 inmates of South...
All Africa reported that more than 200 inmates of South Africa's prisons still had the status of Death Row prisoners even though the African Constitutional Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional on June 6, 1995
- MAY 28, 2003TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
The movement toward the abolition of the death penalty...
The movement toward the abolition of the death penalty in Taiwan progressed in 2002, although nine people were executed and 100 convicted prisoners remained on death row, Amnesty International said
- MAY 28, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
In its annual report on the global human rights situation...
In its annual report on the global human rights situation for 2002, Amnesty International said the treatment of those on death row in Japan was brutal, inhumane and degrading
- MAY 5, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
In his first public debate on the death penalty outside...
In his first public debate on the death penalty outside the United States, former Illinois Governor George Ryan called for states that execute people all over the world to impose moratoria and take the time to study their capital punishment systems
- APRIL 21, 2003AlabamaDEATH PENALTY
After 6 years on death row, Wesley Quick has been acquitted...
After 6 years on death row, Wesley Quick has been acquitted of killing 2 men in his 3rd trial for the 1995 shooting deaths
- APRIL 17, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Leroy Orange, exonerated from Illinois' death row,...
Leroy Orange, exonerated from Illinois' death row, intervened at the UN Commission on Human Rights on behalf of the Transational Radical Party
- APRIL 16, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
A briefing organised by Hands Off Cain for a moratorium...
A briefing organised by Hands Off Cain for a moratorium on capital executions took place at the UN buildings in Geneva
- APRIL 7, 2003North CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
Convicted murderer Bobby Lee Harris is moving off death row
Convicted murderer Bobby Lee Harris is moving off death row
- MARCH 20, 2003CaliforniaDEATH PENALTY
There is no need for a death penalty moratorium in...
There is no need for a death penalty moratorium in California - even though there are more than 600 people on death row - because there are no problems with the sentencing process, according to a report released by a group of prosecutors
- MARCH 10, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
A convict on death row, who is asserting his innocence...
A convict on death row, who is asserting his innocence and seeking a retrial, met his lawyers for the first time in nearly 12 years at the Tokyo detention house
- MARCH 6, 2003IllinoisDEATH PENALTY
An Illinois House committee voted to abolish the death...
An Illinois House committee voted to abolish the death penalty, raising the stakes in the long debate over how to respond to flaws in the state's capital punishment system
- MARCH 4, 2003PennsylvaniaDEATH PENALTY
Panel Urges Halt to Executions in Pa
Panel Urges Halt to Executions in Pa
- FEBRUARY 26, 2003IllinoisDEATH PENALTY
A jury issued Illinois' first death sentence since then-Gov
A jury issued Illinois' first death sentence since then-Gov
- FEBRUARY 25, 2003KenyaDEATH PENALTY
KENYA TAKES OVER 200 PRISONERS OFF DEATH ROW
February 25, 2003: President Mwai Kibaki ordered the release of 28 death row prisoners and commuted the death sentences of another 195 inmates to life in prison, following his campaign pledge to reform Kenya´s prison system, a senior official said.
- FEBRUARY 24, 2003ColoradoDEATH PENALTY
Two men on Colorado's death row were spared when the...
Two men on Colorado's death row were spared when the state's highest court ruled that their death sentences, imposed by 3-judge panels, were unconstitutional
- FEBRUARY 7, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
A Tokyo District Court ruled that the Tokyo Detention...
A Tokyo District Court ruled that the Tokyo Detention House must allow Toshiaki Masunaga, 54, a death-row inmate, to purchase a book even though he had exceeded his allowed limit of possessions
- FEBRUARY 5, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
State lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that...
State lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that would restore Idaho's death penalty, which was overturned last year by a US Supreme Court ruling
- JANUARY 24, 2003FloridaDEATH PENALTY
After 16 years on death row, Rudolph Holton stepped...
After 16 years on death row, Rudolph Holton stepped out from a prison's razor wire fences
- JANUARY 24, 2003United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
John Gummer, UK Conservative MP, met county sheriffs,...
John Gummer, UK Conservative MP, met county sheriffs, district attorneys and parole board members in Austin, Texas, to plea for the life of British born Jackie Elliott, on death row following a 1987 conviction for raping and murdering a woman
- JANUARY 17, 2003IllinoisDEATH PENALTY
The Presidency of the European Union issued a declaration...
The Presidency of the European Union issued a declaration on behalf of the EU on the decision to commute the sentences of all prisoners on death row in Illinois, US