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
- NOVEMBER 6, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA SAYS EX-GOVERNMENT WORKER TO BE EXECUTED FOR SPYING
A former high-level Chinese government employee has been sentenced to death for leaking state secrets to a foreign power, Beijing's spy agency said on November 6, 2024.
- NOVEMBER 6, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Individual Sentenced to Death in Urmia On Charges of “Espionage for Israel.”
- NOVEMBER 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 3 unidentified individuals sentenced to death for espionage
NOVEMBER 5, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING, KILLING MINOR GIRL
A court in Rajasthan’s Udaipur on November 4, 2024 sentenced a man to death for raping and killing a nine-year-old girl.
NOVEMBER 5, 2024Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTYDR CONGO: FOUR SOLDIERS SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH SENTENCE CHANGED TO PRISON
Four Congolese soldiers were sentenced to death on October 31, 2024 by a military court in Butembo, North Kivu (east of the Democratic Republic of Congo), with sentence commuted to prison.
NOVEMBER 4, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 3 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING MOTHER, DAUGHTER IN HABIGANJ IN 2021
A Habiganj court on October 29, 2024 sentenced three people to death in a case filed for killing a woman and her daughter in 2021.
NOVEMBER 4, 2024TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. The legal standoff continues over Robert Roberson
The subpoena calling for him to testify before aTexas House Committee
- OCTOBER 30, 2024PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: FOUR COPS SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER FAKE ENCOUNTER
A Chak Jhumra court has sentenced four police personnel, including a head constable, to death and imposed a fine of Rs1 million for their involvement in a fabricated police encounter that occurred six years ago in the Millat Town area, The Tribune reporte
OCTOBER 30, 2024IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: ISIS MEMBER SENTENCED TO DEATH AND LIFE IMPRISONMENT
The Saladin Criminal Court on October 28, 2024 issued three sentences against a "terrorist" affiliated with ISIS, including two death sentences and one life imprisonment.
OCTOBER 29, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 5 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER IN KHULNA
A Bangladeshi court has handed down the death penalty to five men over the 2016 murder of Jahid Hossain in Khulna.
OCTOBER 28, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH IN LALMONIRHAT MURDER CASE
A court in Lalmonirhat on October 28, 2024 sentenced two persons to death in the much-discussed murder case filed in 2020 at Hatibandha Upazila in the district.
OCTOBER 28, 2024GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jamshid Sharmahd executed on October 28 at an undisclosed location
A German-Iranian political prisoner kidnapped from the UAE
OCTOBER 28, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: CHILD TRAFFICKER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRAFFICKING 17 CHILDREN AFTER RETRIAL
The Guiyang Intermediate People's Court on October 25, 2024 pronounced death sentence to Yu Huaying, a 60-year-old woman who was found guilty of child trafficking and abduction, after a retrial in Guizhou province.
OCTOBER 28, 2024FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Joseph Ables, 75, White, sentenced to death
OCTOBER 27, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mansour Hadadi and Esmail Shehbakhsh executed in Birjand on October 22 and 27
OCTOBER 27, 2024Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: KENYAN FACING EXECUTION GETS ONE-YEAR REPRIEVE
Stephen Munyakho now known as Abdulkareem convicted of murder in Saudi Arabia is sure of staying alive for the next year after the Kenyan government successfully negotiated an extension on the date when he was supposed to be executed.
OCTOBER 27, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - List of 61 Political Prisoners on Death Row in Iran
OCTOBER 25, 2024FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Robert J. Bailey sentenced to death for the 2nd time
OCTOBER 24, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: BOMBAY HC UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE OF MAN CONVICTED FOR MURDERING MOTHER, EATING HER ORGANS
The Bombay High Court on October 1st, 2024 upheld the death penalty awarded to a Kolhapur man for murdering his mother by disembowelling her body to eat her body parts in 2017.
OCTOBER 23, 2024IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: DEATH SENTENCE FOR TWO ISIS MEMBERS
The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council on October 23, 2024 reported that two ISIS members were sentenced to death.
OCTOBER 23, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj (Central) on October 23
Not identified
OCTOBER 23, 2024FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Ronald Lopez Andrade sentenced to death
OCTOBER 22, 2024PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN LABOUR LEADER’S MURDER CASE
A model court has handed down death sentence to a man in a five-year-old case pertaining to the murder of a labour leader, The News reported on October 19, 2024.
OCTOBER 22, 2024Sri LankaDEATH PENALTYSRI LANKA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER REPORTED 24 YEARS AGO
A man was sentenced to death in Sri Lanka on October 16, 2024 over the murder of a person in Imaduwa in February 2000.
- OCTOBER 17, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: FORMER DEPUTY CENTRAL BANK HEAD GETS SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR TAKING BRIBES
China's former deputy central bank governor, Fan Yifei, has been sentenced to death for taking bribes with a two-year reprieve, state media said on October 10, 2024, amid a sweeping anti-graft drive in the financial sector.
- OCTOBER 16, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: APEX COURT COMMUTES EX-SAWMILL WORKER’S DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAPE AND MURDER TO 40 YEARS IN PRISON
The Federal Court in Putrajaya on August 7, 2024 commuted the death sentence of a former sawmill worker to 40 years in prison for killing and raping a nurse nine years ago.
OCTOBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Karaj (Ghezel Hesar) on October 16
Abdolbari Tajik, Pasha Pashto, Javid Ahmadkhani + Rahman …
OCTOBER 15, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: ALLAHABAD HC COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY OF FATHER, SON IN 19-YEAR-OLD DOUBLE MURDER CASE
The Allahabad high court on September 27, 2024 commuted the death sentence of a father-son duo, convicted in a 2005 double murder case, to life imprisonment.
OCTOBER 13, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abdolghafour Shahoozahi + Unk executed in Birjand on October 13
OCTOBER 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Sharifeh Mohammadi's death sentence overeturned
Kurdish activist