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
MAY 29, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: BOTSWANA NATIONAL GETS DEATH PENALTY IN NARCOTICS CASE
A Dhaka court on May 27, 2024 awarded death penalty to Botswana national Lesedi Molapisi in a narcotics case filled over drug smuggling.
MAY 28, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: FOUR JOHOREANS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING IN SABAH
Four Johoreans have been given the death penalty in Malaysia after they were found guilty of trafficking 34, 282.3 grams of drugs while travelling into Sandakan in 2020, The Star reported on May 9, 2024.
MAY 28, 2024NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: TWO TO DIE BY HANGING FOR STEALING N105,000, PHONES, OTHERS IN EKITI
An Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti division, on May 23, 2024 sentenced two persons, Benjamin Joseph (32), and Stephen Orban (25), to death by hanging for robbing two persons of cash and valuable items.
MAY 27, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: THREE, INCLUDING MOTHER, SON, SENTENCED TO DEATH IN KERALA FOR MURDERING 71-YEAR-OLD NEIGHBOUR
A Kerala court on May 22, 2024 sentenced three accused, including a mother and her son, to death for murdering their 71-year-old neighbour near Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram in 2022.
MAY 26, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Samir Saeedi Rad executed in Qom on May 26
261 executions in Iran in 2024
MAY 24, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Appeal of Jewish death row inmate Arvin Ghahremani dismissed
MAY 23, 2024SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: PUNTLAND MILITARY COURT SENTENCES FOUR AL-SHABAB AFFILIATES TO DEATH AND PRISON TERMS
A Puntland military court sentenced four defendants to death and prison terms on May 21, 2024 for their links to the al-Shabab militant group.
MAY 23, 2024EgyptDEATH PENALTYEGYPT: TEACHER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
The Mansoura Criminal Court sentenced on May 21, 2024 a physics teacher to death for the premeditated murder of a high school student in Daqahliya governorate last February.
MAY 21, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: TWO TO BE HANGED FOR KILLING SHOP EMPLOYEE IN RAJSHAHI
A Rajshahi court on May 15, 2024 sentenced two persons to death for killing an employee of a mobile phone shop in the district in 2021.
MAY 20, 2024SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: MILITARY COURT RELEASES SIX MOROCCANS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR REPATRIATION
A military court in Somalia has released the six Moroccan nationals who were recently sentenced to death by a military court in northern Somalia in late February.
MAY 19, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hatem Ozdemir sentenced to death once again
Kurdish Political Prisoner
MAY 18, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ramin Saadat executed in Miandoab on May 18
Arrested at the age of 17
MAY 16, 2024NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: SHARIA COURT SENTENCES BAUCHI MAN TO DEATH BY STONING FOR HOMOSEXUALITY
A middle-aged man, Abdullahi Sani from Unguwar Makara Huta, on May 10, 2024 was sentenced to death by stoning by a Sharia Court in Ningi, the headquarters of Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State, for alleged homosexuality.
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 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Urgent action to halt the execution of Parvin Mousavi
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 15, 2024FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Reynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria sentenced to death again
MAY 14, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 9 TO DIE FOR KILLING JUBO LEAGUE LEADER IN CUMILLA
A Cumilla court on May 12, 2024 sentenced nine people to death for killing Jubo League leader Jamal Uddin alias Bakka Jamal in Chauddagram upazila on the district.
MAY 14, 2024OhioDEATH PENALTYUSA - Ohio. Gurpreet Singh, 41, Asian, sentenced to death
MAY 13, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER POLITICAL ADVISOR GIVEN DEATH SENTENCE WITH REPRIEVE
Sun Yuanliang, a former senior political advisor of northeast China's Liaoning Province, was sentenced to death, with a two-year reprieve, for bribery on May 9, 2024.
MAY 10, 2024MississippiDEATH PENALTYUSA - Mississippi. A jury sentenced Joseph David Heard, 41, Black, to death
MAY 9, 2024TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: MAN'S DEATH PENALTY COMMUTED TO LIFE SENTENCE AFTER FOUR RETRIALS
A Kaohsiung man's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on May 7, 2024 by the Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Court, after his case was retried for the fourth time.
MAY 9, 2024IndonesiaDEATH PENALTYINDONESIA: MEDAN COURT SENTENCES THREE DRUG TRAFFICKERS TO DEATH
The Medan District Court on May 8, 2024 found three defendants, including a woman dubbed the "drug queen" by local media, guilty of trafficking and sentenced them to death.
- MAY 8, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: KARNATAKA COURT AWARDS DEATH PENALTY TO 2 IN HATE CRIME CASE
In a landmark ruling, the District Sessions Court in Vijayapura has delivered a verdict of justice in a harrowing case of honour killing, sentencing two perpetrators to death by hanging, while imposing life imprisonment and hefty fines on others involved,
- MAY 7, 2024NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: COURT SENTENCES THREE TO DEATH FOR ARMED ROBBERY IN EKITI
An Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division, has sentenced three persons, Oyebanji Sola, Jimoh Azeez and Ogunlade Babatunde, to death by hanging for armed robbery.
MAY 6, 2024Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: ESCALATING CONCERNS OVER THE LIVES OF MINORS THREATENED WITH DEATH
Saudi Arabia’s court of appeal in April 2024 approved death sentences for two Saudi men for protest-related crimes allegedly committed as children, Human Rights Watch and 26 other organizations said on April 29, 2024 in a joint statement.
MAY 6, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: CBI COURT AWARDS DEATH SENTENCE TO FOUR CONVICTS IN NUH GANGRAPES, DOUBLE MURDER CASE
A special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) court in Haryana's Panchkula awarded the death sentence to four convicts in the 2016 Nuh gangrapes and double murder case on May 4, 2024, officials said.
- MAY 5, 2024Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
DR CONGO: 8 TROOPS HANDED DESERTION DEATH SENTENCE
A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo's war-torn east on May 3, 2024 handed a death sentence to eight soldiers, including five officers, for desertion and cowardice when fighting M23 rebels.
MAY 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoner Mahmood Mehrabi sentenced to death
On May 5
MAY 3, 2024TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. Jerry Don Elders, 42, White, sentenced to death