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
FEBRUARY 27, 2025TanzaniaDEATH PENALTYTANZANIA: BUSINESSMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING, BURNING HIS WIFE
The High Court in Dar es Salaam Zone has sentenced businessman Khamis Luwonga (38) to death by hanging after finding him guilty of murdering his wife, Naomi Marijani.
FEBRUARY 27, 2025TunisiaDEATH PENALTYTUNISIA: EIGHT SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 2013 MURDER OF OPPOSITION LEADER
A Tunisian court sentenced eight defendants to death on February 25, 2025 over the 2013 assassination of leftist opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi, according to local reports.
FEBRUARY 26, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: CONTRACTOR SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER BKASH AGENT'S MURDER IN CHATTOGRAM
A Chattogram court on February 24, 2025 handed down the death penalty to a contractor over the murder of a bKash agent in 2020.
FEBRUARY 26, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Karaj (Ghezel Hesar) on February 26
Mosayeb Azizi, Sajad Eghbali + Unk
FEBRUARY 25, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 4 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING WOMAN IN HABIGANJ
A Habiganj court on February 24, 2025 convicted four people and sentenced them to death for killing a woman in 2014.
FEBRUARY 24, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani at imminent risk of execution
Supreme Court rejected the retrial request of political prisoners
FEBRUARY 23, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT OF ICBC SENTENCED TO DEATH
Zhang Hongli, former vice-president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for the crime of accepting bribes by a court in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, on February 19, 2025.
- FEBRUARY 22, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: MAN WHO KILLED STORE CLERK OVER MASK AVOIDS DEATH PENALTY AT RETRIAL
The Taiwan High Court on February 19, 2025 upheld a life sentence for a man who stabbed a convenience store clerk to death over being asked to wear a face mask.
FEBRUARY 21, 2025South DakotaDEATH PENALTYUSA - South Dakota. Senate Judiciary Committee voted down SB 119 to abolish death penalty
FEBRUARY 21, 2025United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Will Luigi Mangione face death penalty?
FEBRUARY 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - IHR 2024 Annual Report
At least 975 people were executed in 2024
FEBRUARY 18, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: BENGAL MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR KIDNAPPING, RAPING 7-MONTH-OLD CHILD
A special POCSO court in Kolkata on February 18, 2025 sentenced a man guilty of rape and attempted murder of a seven-month-old child in north Kolkata to death by hanging.
FEBRUARY 18, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: EX-JIANGSU LEGISLATOR SENTENCED FOR CORRUPTION
A former senior legislator in eastern China's Jiangsu province was given a suspended death sentence for taking bribes, abusing his power and illegally trading landuse rights, a court in the central province of Hubei announced on February 17, 2025.
FEBRUARY 18, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death sentence of Mehrab Abdollahzadeh goes to Supreme Court
Kurdish political prisoner
FEBRUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hengaw’s Statistical Report: 909 Executions in Iran in 2024
- FEBRUARY 13, 2025United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - ‘Warden, I am ready’: documentary on the death penalty as seen from the point of view of a victim's son
FEBRUARY 13, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: FIVE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR GANG RAPE AND MURDER
A court in India has sentenced five men to death for the gang rape and murder of a teenager as well as the killing of her father and toddler-aged niece
FEBRUARY 13, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sharifeh Mohammadi sentenced to death again
- FEBRUARY 11, 2025PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING COUPLE DURING HOUSE ROBBERY
Additional District and Sessions Judge (South) Abdul Hafeez Lashari, who conducted the trial at the judicial complex inside the central prison, Karachi, found Nawaz Khursheed guilty of murdering an elderly couple, Jawed Iftikhar and Salma, in their DHA Ph
FEBRUARY 11, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 4 BNP LEADERS RELEASED FROM RAJSHAHI JAIL
Four Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders, who were acquitted from the death penalty by the High Court recently, were released from Rajshahi jail on February 11, 2025.
FEBRUARY 10, 2025TennesseeDEATH PENALTYUSA - Tennessee. Kevin Burns, the death row inmate who celebrates mass on death row
Burns is an evangelical pastor
FEBRUARY 9, 2025TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. The Baptist church alongside the victims, not the culprits
The case of Steven Nelson who had killed a Baptist pastor
FEBRUARY 9, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Pejman Soltani sentenced to death
Kurdish political prisoner, arrested during the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” movement
FEBRUARY 7, 2025North CarolinaDEATH PENALTYUSA - North Carolina. Hasson Bacote's death sentence overturned ‘on racial grounds’
Other cases may follow
FEBRUARY 6, 2025NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: FIVE SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER 'WITCHCRAFT' MURDER
Five men have been sentenced to death by hanging in Nigeria's Kano state for the 2023 murder of a woman they accused of witchcraft, BBC News reported on February 4, 2025.
FEBRUARY 5, 2025AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama - House committee approves death penalty for child sexual assault
HB 49
FEBRUARY 4, 2025Sri LankaDEATH PENALTYSRI LANKA: ELEVEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER AFTER 20 YEARS
Eleven accused who stood indicted with murder were found guilty and sentenced to death by Uva Province High Court Judge Prasanna Alwis, Daily Mirror reported on January 31, 2025.
- FEBRUARY 4, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN CHATTOGRAM FOR KILLING PREGNANT WIFE OVER DOWRY
A Chattogram court on February 3, 2025 sentenced a man to death for killing his wife, who was pregnant at the time, over conflict centring dowry.
FEBRUARY 3, 2025IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: NINE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council announced that the Central Criminal Court has sentenced nine Iraqi drug traffickers to death after convicting them of smuggling and distributing illicit substances across the country, Kurdistan24 reported on January 29, 202
FEBRUARY 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hasani transferred to political prisoners’ ward
Following extensive domestic and international protests