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
- JUNE 10, 2024TanzaniaDEATH PENALTY
AFRICAN COURT GIVES TANZANIA SIX MONTHS ULTIMATUM TO SCRAP DEATH PENALTY
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has reiterated its longstanding order to Tanzania to revoke the death penalty in line with the continental charter on the right to life, The East African reported on June 6, 2024.
JUNE 6, 2024United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Maryland. Kenneth J. Lighty gets 2 life sentences at resentencing
Federal sentence
MAY 31, 2024PennsylvaniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Pennsylvania. State Supreme Court reinstates death penalty for Kevin Dowling
65, White
MAY 17, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Young Jewish man at risk of execution
Arvin Ghahremani
MAY 16, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: HIGH COURT LIMITS SOLITARY FOR DEATH ROW INMATES
A Bangladesh court ruled on May 13, 2024 that death row prisoners could not be held in solitary confinement until their appeals had been exhausted, in what lawyers called a major rights victory for inmates.
MAY 15, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Karaj on May 15
Political prisoner Khosrow Besharat + Mohammad-Reza Rahimpour, Sirus Hayatbini, Mohammad-Karim Fazeli, and an unidentified Afghan national
MAY 9, 2024OklahomaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Oklahoma. Wade Lay, 63, White, incompetent to be executed
MAY 8, 2024United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - The Events in the Lives of Women on U.S. Death Row
Article of New Cardozo Law Review
MAY 1, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ahmad Heyrati executed in Shiraz on May 1
- APRIL 21, 2024ZimbabweDEATH PENALTY
ZIMBABWE FREES PRISONERS, INCLUDING THOSE SENTENCED TO DEATH, IN AN INDEPENDENCE DAY AMNESTY
Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa granted clemency to more than 4,000 prisoners, including some who were on death row, in an independence day amnesty on April 18, 2024.
APRIL 17, 2024JapanDEATH PENALTYJAPAN: DEATH-ROW INMATES' LAWSUIT TARGETING SAME-DAY NOTIFICATIONS OF EXECUTIONS DISMISSED
The Osaka District Court on April 15, 2024 dismissed a lawsuit by death row inmates that claimed same-day notifications of executions violate the Constitution — the first ruling of its kind.
APRIL 10, 2024CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Caligornioa. NGOs fight ‘racially discriminatory’ death penalty in California Supreme Court
- APRIL 5, 2024AlabamaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Alabama. Derrick Dearman Asks to Be Executed
APRIL 5, 2024CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - California. Jeff Rosen to empty death row
Santa Clara County District Attorney
APRIL 2, 2024OhioDEATH PENALTYUSA - Ohio. Attorney general report says Ohio's death penalty is "unworkable"
Dave Yost backs bill to change it
APRIL 1, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: DNA EVIDENCE FREES MAN AFTER 11 YEARS IN RAPE-MURDER CASE
In a shocking turn of events in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, a man sentenced to death thrice for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl was acquitted after 11 years, Law Trend reported on March 30, 2024
MARCH 27, 2024TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. Randall Mays taken off death row over intellectual disability
MARCH 26, 2024CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - California. San Quentin’s death row empties
2/3 of death row inmates transferred to “normal” maximum security prisons
MARCH 25, 2024United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - The National Registry of Exonerations published its 2023 report
153 exonerations last year, 4 from death row
- MARCH 14, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 Juvenile Offenders Executed in 2023
2 confirmed, 3 unconfirmed
MARCH 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Moein Salahvarzi executed in Ilam on March 11
After 32 years on death row
MARCH 11, 2024Trinidad & TobagoDEATH PENALTYTRINIDAD: EIGHT FORMER DEATH ROW INMATES IMMEDIATELY RELEASED
Eight former death row inmates in Trinidad and Tobago have been released after 22 years’ imprisonment, DSC reported on March 4, 2024.
FEBRUARY 29, 2024LouisianaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Louisiana. Senate passed HB 6
Allowing nitrogen suffocation as option for killing prisoners
FEBRUARY 28, 2024PennsylvaniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Pennsylvania. Daniel Gwynn exonerated and released after 30 years on death row
FEBRUARY 25, 2024IdahoDEATH PENALTYUSA - Idaho. Idaho is set to execute Thomas Eugene Creech, a serial killer
First execution since 2012
FEBRUARY 22, 2024FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Jury sentences Howard Steven Ault, 57, White, to death
For the 3rd time
FEBRUARY 11, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: AT 561, NUMBER OF DEATH ROW PRISONERS AT A 19-YEAR HIGH
The number of prisoners on death row has risen to 561 in 2023, which is the highest in 19 years.
FEBRUARY 6, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: 5 ON DEATH ROW IN SABAH SPARED THE GALLOWS
Five prisoners on death row in Sabah on February 5, 2024 saw their capital punishment substituted to imprisonment by the Federal Court.
JANUARY 29, 2024AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Global condemnation for Smith's experimental execution
JANUARY 23, 2024AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Kenneth Smith’s lawyers ask U.S. Supreme Court whether state can try twice to execute him