Death sentences
Archive theme
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
APRIL 1, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 564 PEOPLE ON DEATH ROW, HIGHEST SINCE THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
According to the latest data published by Project 39A in its Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report, in 2024 sessions courts imposed 139 death sentences, higher than the yearly average since 2016.
- MARCH 31, 2025United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
UAE: 3 UZBEK NATIONALS SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER KILLING OF CHABAD RABBI
Three Uzbek nationals accused of killing Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates last year have been sentenced to death, Israeli sources in the Gulf state told Hebrew-language media on March 30, 2025.
MARCH 29, 2025PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: FIVE TO HANG FOR BLASPHEMY
A court in Rawalpindi on March 22, 2025 awarded death penalty to five accused, along with life imprisonment and a cumulative sum of Rs6.5 million in fines in a blasphemy case registered against them by the Cyber Crime Wing of the Federal Investigation Age
MARCH 29, 2025South CarolinaDEATH PENALTYUSA - South Carolina. I saw South Carolina use a firing squad to execute a man
I am sick with rage
MARCH 27, 2025VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: DOCTOR GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR DISMEMBERING MISTRESS
A 37-year-old married doctor who murdered and dismembered his mistress was sentenced to death by the People’s Court in Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam on March 18, 2025.
MARCH 27, 2025PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR HONOUR KILLING IN TOBA TEK SINGH
A court in Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan, on March 24, 2025 sentenced two men to death for the murder of Maria Bibi, who was killed by her father and brother in March 2024.
MARCH 27, 2025North CarolinaDEATH PENALTYUSA - North Carolina. Jonathan Michael Monk, White, sentenced to death
For the 2017 murders of 4 prison workers
MARCH 27, 2025CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - California. Adel Ramos, 51, Hispanic, sentenced to death
MARCH 26, 2025SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: SNA SOLDIER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING COMMANDER
Hussein Hassan Mahmoud Ma'da, a soldier in the Somali National Army, has been sentenced to death by firing squad for the murder of Sergeant Major Shafi'i Mohamed Hansi Ali, a group commander, HOL reported on March 26, 2025.
MARCH 26, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death Sentence of Hamid Hosseinnezhad Upheld
Kurdish Political Prisoner
MARCH 25, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 3 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR GANG RAPE, MURDER OF TEENAGER IN 2022
A Dhaka tribunal has sentenced three individuals to death in connection with the gang rape and murder of a teenage girl in Keraniganj, Dhaka, three years ago.
MARCH 24, 2025Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: SAUDI PROTESTOR MOHAMMAD LABBAD SENTENCED TO DEATH
The Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal (SCCA) on February 25, 2025 sentenced Saudi protestor Mohammad Labbad to the death penalty.
MARCH 19, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: UTTAR PRADESH COURT GIVES DEATH PENALTY TO 3 MEN FOR KILLING 24 DALITS IN 1981
A Uttar Pradesh court on March 18, 2025 ordered death penalty to three men linked to the killings of 24 Dalits in Dehuli in 1981.
MARCH 19, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: EX-ENGINEER TO BE EXECUTED FOR SPYING
A former Chinese engineer has been sentenced to death for leaking state secrets to a foreign power, Beijing's spy agency said on March 18, 2025.
MARCH 18, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCES FOR 20 MEN WHO MURDERED STUDENT OVER FACEBOOK POST
A High Court in Bangladesh on March 16, 2025 upheld the death sentence of 20 men convicted of killing a fellow student seven years ago inside a university campus.
MARCH 16, 2025JordanDEATH PENALTYJORDAN: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR POISONING STEPDAUGHTER
The Grand Criminal Court has sentenced a woman to death by hanging for poisoning her stepdaughter, Roya News reported on March 13, 2025.
MARCH 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Morteza Kazemzadeh and Mohammadreza Basiri executed in Semnan on March 13
MARCH 12, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH, 6 OTHERS LIFE TERM IN TELANGANA DALIT MAN’S ‘HONOUR KILLING’ IN 2018
A Telangana court on March 10, 2025 pronounced the sentence in the 2018 Miryalaguda honour killing case. The hired killer, Subhash Sharma, was given the death penalty, while all others accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.
MARCH 12, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: SUPREME PROSECUTORS OFFICE REVIEWS 36 DEATH ROW INMATE APPEALS
Taiwan’s Supreme Prosecutors Office is reviewing extraordinary appeal requests from 36 death row inmates following a Constitutional Court ruling last year.
MARCH 11, 2025EthiopiaDEATH PENALTYINDONESIA: MINISTRY PROVIDES LEGAL AID FOR INDONESIAN ON DEATH ROW IN ETHIOPIA
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry has vowed to provide legal aid to Linda Yuliana, an Indonesian citizen facing the death penalty in Ethiopia after being convicted in a drug smuggling case.
MARCH 10, 2025Sri LankaDEATH PENALTYSRI LANKA: COUPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TORTURING AND MURDERING TWO-YEAR-OLD ADOPTED BOY
Colombo High Court Judge Sujeewa Nishshanka, on March 6, 2025 sentenced to death a man and his wife for torturing and murdering a two-year-old boy whom they had adopted.
- MARCH 10, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER OF GIRLFRIEND
Dhaka’s Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-5 on February 27, 2025 sentenced Maruf Hasan Badhon to death for the rape and murder of his girlfriend, Asma Akter, five years ago.
MARCH 10, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: KAOHSIUNG MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING NEIGHBORS
The Kaohsiung District Court on March 10, 2025 sentenced to death a man convicted of fatally stabbing a couple in an upstairs apartment that he believed frequently made too much noise.
MARCH 10, 2025FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. A judge followed a jury's recommendation that Eriese Tisdale be put to death
MARCH 9, 2025VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: KENYAN WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRAFFICKING 2 KG OF DRUGS
A Kenyan woman in Ho Chi Minh City was sentenced to death for trafficking over 2 kg of drugs through Tan Son Nhat Airport.
- MARCH 6, 2025NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH, SURGICAL CASTRATION OVER RAPE
Two persons have been sentenced to death by hanging, while another was sentenced to life imprisonment for rape in Kaduna.
MARCH 6, 2025FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Guerry Hertz sentenced to death
At the end of retrial
- 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.
MARCH 5, 2025PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING FELLOW KILN WORKER
A murder convict was sentenced to death in Pakistan on February 24, 2025 for killing his fellow worker at a brick kiln located in Dandi area of Attock, in the limits of Pindigheb Police station, on April 28, 2024.
MARCH 4, 2025NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE, BROTHER-IN-LAW IN LAGOS
A Lagos State High Court, presided over by Justice Sherifat Sonaike, at Tafawa Balewa Square, on February 27, 2025 sentenced Benjamin Ogundero to death by hanging for the murder of his wife, Chinyere Ogundero, and her brother, Ifeanyi Joseph, in April 202