Death sentences
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A death sentence is not the same thing as an execution: years can pass between the two, and the sentence may be overturned on appeal, commuted, or never carried out. Counting them separately measures two different things: how far a state resorts to capital punishment, and how far it actually applies it.
This page collects the news on death sentences handed down around the world, on the later stages of appeal, and on the sentences upheld or overturned. Executions have a page of their own.
Latest news
JULY 27, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoners Behrooz Ehsani Eslamlou and Mehdi Hasani executed in Karaj on July 27
JULY 26, 2025FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Shelby Nealy sentenced to death
- JULY 24, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE ENTERTAINER ZHANG YIYANG EXECUTED FOR MURDERING 16-YEAR-OLD GIRLFRIEND
Chinese entertainer Zhang Yiyang, accused of murdering his 16-year-old girlfriend in 2022, was executed on December 18 in 2024, according to a detailed investigation report recently released by the Intermediate People's Court of Xianyang in North Shaanxi
JULY 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yaghoub Derakhshan, a political prisoner, sentenced to death
JULY 23, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HIGH COURT ACQUITS 12 MEN IN MUMBAI TRAIN BOMBINGS THAT KILLED 187
A court in India has acquitted 12 men who had been convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed 187 people and injured more than 800.
JULY 23, 2025United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Ronald Tabak, a pillar of the fight against the death penalty in the United States, has died
JULY 22, 2025TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. Less Restrictive Conditions for Some on Death Row
- JULY 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 political prisoners sentenced to death
JULY 19, 2025AfghanistanDEATH PENALTYAFGHANISTAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH BY TALIBAN COURT OVER ALLEGED BLASPHEMY
A Taliban court in Afghanistan’s Paktika province has sentenced a man to death on charges of blasphemy, according to a spokesperson for the group.
JULY 17, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: SC ACQUITS MAN ON DEATH ROW, ISSUES NATIONWIDE GUIDELINES ON DNA EVIDENCE HANDLING
The Supreme Court of India on July 15, 2025 acquitted a man on death row in a murder case, outlining the gaps in forensic evidence and issued countrywide directions on handling of DNA samples.
- JULY 16, 2025YemenDEATH PENALTY
YEMEN POSTPONES EXECUTION OF INDIAN NURSE ON DEATH ROW
Authorities in Yemen have postponed the execution of an Indian nurse who is on death row after being found guilty of murder, Indian foreign ministry sources say.
JULY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 political prisoners sentenced to death
Massoud Jamei, Alireza Mardasi and Farshad Etemadifar
- JULY 15, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - The 77th Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
JULY 15, 2025PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MURDERER SENTENCED TO DEATH IN CHINIOT
The Additional Sessions Judge in Chiniot, Imtiaz Nadeem on July 14, 2025 sentenced Altaf Hussain to death twice and imposed a fine for his involvement in a double murder case.
JULY 14, 2025NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING DRIVER
A Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Yenagoa has sentenced four men to death for the murder of a taxi driver, Mr Olarenwaju Ajayi, sometime in 2001.
JULY 14, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: WIFE, TWO OTHERS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING MAN IN CTG
A Chattogram court on July 14, 2025 sentenced a woman and two others to death for killing her husband over an extramarital relationship in 2021.
JULY 14, 2025LouisianaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Louisiana. Governor signs HB 675
Limiting Post-Conviction Appeals
- JULY 10, 2025United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Mid-Year Review: New Death Sentences Low, Increase in Executions
Death Penalty Information Center analysis
JULY 9, 2025VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDERING ENTIRE FAMILY
A man who murdered four members of his own family to free them from poverty has been sentenced to death by a Hanoi court on July 8, 2025.
JULY 9, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER SENIOR POLITICAL ADVISOR OF XINJIANG HANDED DEATH SENTENCE WITH REPRIEVE FOR BRIBERY
Dou Wangui, a former senior political advisor of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was sentenced on July 7, 2025 to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes.
JULY 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in public in Miandoab
- JULY 8, 2025BahrainDEATH PENALTY
BAHRAIN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING NEIGHBOUR OVER PERSONAL DISPUTE IN SHAKHURA
The First High Criminal Court has sentenced a man to death for fatally stabbing his neighbour in the Shakhura area, News of Bahrain reported on July 8, 2025.
- JULY 7, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 5 kurdish political prisoners sentenced to death
JULY 7, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING SIX MEMBERS OF A FAMILY
The IV additional district and sessions court in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) on June 27, 2025 sentenced 50-year-old Battina Appalaraju to death for killing six members of a family, including two children, in a revenge killing in April 2021.
JULY 7, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 4 SENTENCED TO DEATH, 4 TO LIFE TERM IN JHENAIDAH
A Jhenaidah court on July 7, 2025 sentenced four people to death and four others to life imprisonment for killing Sub-Inspector (SI) Mirajul Islam in 2011.
JULY 5, 2025IdahoDEATH PENALTYUSA - Idaho. Interesting controversy after the non-condemnation to death of Bryan Kohberger
JULY 3, 2025VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: 11 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
The Hanoi People's Court sentenced two suspended police officers to death for transporting drugs and "assisting and covering up" in the trafficking of nearly 140 kg of narcotics.
JULY 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Rezgar Beigzadeh Babamiri sentenced to death
JULY 2, 2025PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: PHC UPHOLDS MAN’S DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING MINOR DAUGHTER
Peshawar High Court has upheld sentence of death awarded to a convict by a trial court for killing his five-year-old daughter over suspicion of her legitimacy, Dawn reported on June 30, 2025.
JULY 2, 2025South KoreaDEATH PENALTYSOUTH KOREA: TWO DEATH ROW INMATES DIE, LEAVING 57 REMAINING ON DEATH ROW
The fact that two death row inmates died last year has been revealed belatedly. They died due to advanced age and illness while being in a state where capital punishment was not carried out for a long time.