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
- DECEMBER 8, 2006South CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
In St Matthews, S.C. Judge Clifton Newman sentenced a man to death...
In St Matthews, S.C. Judge Clifton Newman sentenced a man to death for killing an off-duty police officer 2 years ago.
- DECEMBER 7, 2006AlabamaDEATH PENALTY
a death sentence was ordered for Jimmy Lamar Killingsworth Jr.
a death sentence was ordered for Jimmy Lamar Killingsworth Jr.
- DECEMBER 7, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
JORDAN. FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER US SHIP ATTACK
a Jordanian military tribunal condemned to death three Syrian nationals and an Iraqi in connection with a rocket attack on US warships that killed a Jordanian soldier.
- DECEMBER 7, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE MAN GETS SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDERING JAPANESE
a court in Shenyang, northeastern China, sentenced 27-year-old Chinese national Zhou Bo to death for killing Japanese national Masahiko Sato in Fukuoka, south-western Japan, in May 2005.
- DECEMBER 6, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. DEATH FOR WOMAN WHO STABBED LOVER TO DEATH
the shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Liao Yan...
- DECEMBER 6, 2006LibyaDEATH PENALTY
IRAQI COURT SENTENCES LIBYAN TO DEATH FOR TERRORISM
an Iraqi court sentenced a Libyan member of al-Qaida in Iraq to death after he admitted taking part in eight attacks on US-led coalition forces and Iraqi targets...
- DECEMBER 5, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING 2 WOMEN IN FUKUSHIMA PREF.
the Sendai High Court, Japan, sentenced a 53-year-old man to death for killing a woman and her daughter and stealing some 50,000 yen in cash in Fukushima Prefecture in 2004, scrapping a sentence of life imprisonment imposed by a lower court.
- DECEMBER 1, 2006South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH AFRICA. SENTENCE COMMUTED FOR LAST DEATH ROW INMATE
South Africa's last death row inmate has had his sentence finally commuted to a jail term 11 years after capital punishment was declared unconstitutional, the country's highest court announced.
- NOVEMBER 30, 2006QatarDEATH PENALTY
QATAR. THREE FOREIGN NATIONALS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
a criminal court in Doha, capital of Qatar, sentenced two Nepalese and an Indian to death after they were found guilty of forcing an Indonesian maid into prostitution and killing her. A fourth man of Nepalese nationality was sentenced to imprisonment for
- NOVEMBER 29, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. THREE PROTESTANT LEADERS CONDEMNED WITHOUT PROOF EXECUTED IN SECRET
the leaders of a Protestant group “Three Grades of Servants”, condemned to death without proof, were executed in secret last week, according to the China Aid Association (CAA), a US-based non-governmental organisation that lobbies for religious freedom in
- NOVEMBER 29, 2006BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF SISTER
a man was sentenced to death for killing his minor sister following a quarrel with his mother at Pachoi village in Hajiganj, Bangladesh.
- NOVEMBER 29, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR HAMMER KILLINGS
the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang Weiyi...
- NOVEMBER 28, 2006CaliforniaDEATH PENALTY
Jeffrey Young was sentenced to death for the 1999 murders...
Jeffrey Young was sentenced to death for the 1999 murders of two people gunned down during a botched robbery at a parking lot.
- NOVEMBER 27, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. 4 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR CHILD SACRIFICE
a woman and her three sons were sentenced to death by a court in Bulandshahr, India, for sacrificing a child earlier in the year.
- NOVEMBER 25, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM SENTENCES FOUR INCLUDING BRITISH CITIZEN TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
a Vietnamese court sentenced to death four people, including a British citizen of Vietnamese origin, after convicting them of drug trafficking.
- NOVEMBER 24, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Qiao Ruqian...
- NOVEMBER 22, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQI COURT HANDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER OF JAPANESE HOSTAGE
an Iraqi court sentenced to death an al-Qaida operative over the 2004 kidnapping and beheading of a Japanese hostage.
- NOVEMBER 20, 2006PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. DEATH PENALTY AWARDED TO 16 CONVICTS IN JACOBABAD
a District and Sessions Court in Jacobabad, Pakistan, sentenced to death 16 people under the Terrorist Act for killing 11 members of the same family in 1993 after setting ablaze their house in a village in Kashmore
- NOVEMBER 18, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING COUPLE ON SORCERY CHARGE
Niranjan Khakhlary, 30, was sentenced to death by the Darrang district Sessions Court, India, for murdering a couple he believed to be practicing witchcraft.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. FOUR BROTHERS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RUNNING CRIME GANG
four brothers who headed a north China organized crime gang were sentenced to death at the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2006VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM. AUSTRALIAN CONVICTED OF SMUGGLING SPARED DEATH PENALTY
Trinh Huu, an Australian national convicted of drug smuggling, was spared death by firing squad when the Vietnamese government granted him clemency.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2006KentuckyDEATH PENALTY
Shawn Windsor has been sentenced to die.
Shawn Windsor has been sentenced to die.
- NOVEMBER 15, 2006PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. MAN HANGED FOR MURDER
Mureed Hussain, 35, resident of Noorpur, was hanged in Faisalabad District Jail, Pakistan. The accused had reportedly attempted to develop “illicit ties” with a married woman and had killed her son Ehsanullah, 7, on August 30, 1993.
- NOVEMBER 15, 2006TexasDEATH PENALTY
in Fort Worth, a 26-year-old man was sentenced to death for robbing and killing an 89-year-old man in his home.
in Fort Worth, a 26-year-old man was sentenced to death for robbing and killing an 89-year-old man in his home.
- NOVEMBER 14, 2006PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. TWO MEN HANGED FOR MURDER
two Pakistanis convicted of separate murders were hanged after President Pervez Musharraf turned down their pleas for clemency, jail officials said.
- NOVEMBER 14, 2006TexasDEATH PENALTY
in Greenville, a jury has again sentenced a man to die for killing a convenience store clerk in 1997.
in Greenville, a jury has again sentenced a man to die for killing a convenience store clerk in 1997.
- NOVEMBER 14, 2006TexasDEATH PENALTY
in McKinney, a 50-year-old man was sentenced to die for the slaying of his estranged wife...
in McKinney, a 50-year-old man was sentenced to die for the slaying of his estranged wife, who died in January 2005 3 days after he shot her in the head in her home.
- NOVEMBER 13, 2006TexasDEATH PENALTY
in Beaumont, the sentencing phase for the murder trial of David Lee Jackson
in Beaumont, the sentencing phase for the murder trial of David Lee Jackson
- NOVEMBER 9, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF SEVEN NIGHTCLUB DANCERS
a former manager of an elevator factory was sentenced to death for murdering and dismembering seven women he paid to dance with in nightclubs in the northeastern city of Shenyang.
- NOVEMBER 7, 2006PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. MILITANTS GET LIFE SENTENCE, DEATH PENALTY FOR 2005 BOMBINGS THAT KILLED 11
a Pakistani court sentenced militant Jan Maqbool to death and another man to life imprisonment after finding them guilty of involvement in two deadly blasts in Lahore on September 22, 2005.