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
APRIL 9, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN PUNE FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING A MINOR GIRL AND KILLING HER
Additional Sessions Judge and District Judge BP Kshirsagar sentenced Tejas Mahipati Dalvi to death for the rape, kidnapping, and murder of a minor.
APRIL 8, 2024SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: POLICE OFFICERS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
Two police officers on April 4, 2024 were sentenced to death in Somalia by a military court.
APRIL 5, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Kurdistan Human Rights Network’s Annual Report
For the Iranian year 1402 (21 March 2023 – 19 March 2024)
APRIL 4, 2024TanzaniaDEATH PENALTYTANZANIA: SIX COMMUNITY PATROL GUARDS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
A court in Babati on March 5, 2024 sentenced six members of a community patrol, known as ‘Sungusungu’, to death for the brutal murder of a man they accused of cattle theft.
APRIL 4, 2024SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: EX-PROPERTY AGENT SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR CANNABIS TRAFFICKING
A former property agent was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty for trafficking cannabis in Singapore, with the judge rejecting his claim that the drugs were for research and development.
APRIL 3, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: TWO SIBLINGS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING MAN IN CUMILLA
A court in Cumilla on April 1, 2024 sentenced two brothers to death in a case filed over the murder of a man in Titas upazila of the district in 2020.
APRIL 3, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death Sentence for Police Officer Jafar Javanmardi, who Killed Protester
Reflections on a very rare event
APRIL 1, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 4, INCLUDING WIFE, SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING SAUDI EXPATRIATE OVER EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR
A Cumilla court on March 27, 2024 sentenced a woman and three other people to death for killing her husband over an extramarital affair in Cumilla's Homna upazila.
APRIL 1, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: DNA EVIDENCE FREES MAN AFTER 11 YEARS IN RAPE-MURDER CASE
In a shocking turn of events in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, a man sentenced to death thrice for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl was acquitted after 11 years, Law Trend reported on March 30, 2024
MARCH 31, 2024FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. James Guzman sentenced to death
Third resentencing
MARCH 28, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: THREE TO BE HANGED FOR MURDER IN FARIDPUR
A Faridpur court has sentenced three people to death and three others to life term imprisonment in a case filed over the murder of a student in Nagarkanda upazila of the district.
MARCH 28, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: TWO FILIPINAS ESCAPE DEATH SENTENCE AFTER APEX COURT GRANTS 30 YEARS’ JAIL FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Two Filipinas, who had been on death row in Malaysia since 2013, were granted a reprieve when the Federal Court on March 26, 2024 granted them a revision of their sentence, bringing it down to 30 years’ jail.
MARCH 27, 2024TunisiaDEATH PENALTYTUNISIA: FOUR PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 2013 ASSASSINATION OF POLITICIAN
A Tunisian court on March 27, 2024 sentenced four people to death and two to life in prison on charges of participating in the murder of prominent political leader Chokri Belaid 11 years ago.
- MARCH 26, 2024United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM - Assange can’t be extradited until US rules out death penalty
MARCH 26, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 5 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF FORMER ODISHA BLOCK CHAIRMAN
In a landmark verdict, a court in Odisha’s Keonjhar district on March 3, 2024 sentenced five individuals to death for the murder of former Anandpur block chairman Ram Chandra Behera.
MARCH 26, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 2018 MURDER OF ELDERLY WOMAN IN CHATTOGRAM
A Chattogram court on March 9, 2024 sentenced two men to death for the murder of an elderly woman during a robbery in the city’s Sadarghat area.
MARCH 26, 2024CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - California. San Quentin’s death row empties
2/3 of death row inmates transferred to “normal” maximum security prisons
- MARCH 25, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 2 men and 1 woman executed in Tabriz
Abbas Aghayi, Yasin Zolfaghari and his unidentified wife
MARCH 25, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 8 DACOITS GIVEN DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING THREE
Ten years after three members of a Bareilly-based income tax inspector's family were murdered during a dacoity by a gang of eight, including two women, a city court has awarded capital punishment to all of them on March 8, 2024.
MARCH 25, 2024PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: TWO WOMEN GET DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING THEIR MADRASSA TEACHER
Two Pakistani women have been sentenced to death for murdering their madrassa teacher who they accused of committing blasphemy, police said on March 20, 2024.
MARCH 20, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: MAN GETS DEATH FOR 200KG OF DRUGS IN TAWAU
A mechanic was sentenced to death by the Tawau High Court on March 8, 2024 for trafficking nearly 200kg of syabu.
MARCH 20, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING LANCE NAIK IN BAREILLY
A man, who shot dead a Lance Naik in 2018 was awarded capital punishment by a court in UP’s Bareilly on February 28, 2024.
MARCH 20, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 4 GET DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING CHILD IN N'GANJ
A court in Narayanganj on March 5, 2024 sentenced four people to death for killing a schoolboy at Rupganj in the district in 2018.
- MARCH 19, 2024TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECLINES DEATH ROW INMATES' APPEAL FOR REVIEW
Taiwan’s constitutional court on March 18, 2024 declined to review an additional appeal lodged by 37 death row inmates on the grounds that it was submitted too late.
MARCH 18, 2024AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Marco Perez officially sentenced to death
- MARCH 14, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: TWO MEN GET DEATH SENTENCES COMMUTED
Two death sentences on March 13, 2024 were commuted in separate rulings at the Federal Court and Court of Appeal, in Putrajaya
MARCH 14, 2024IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: SUSPECTED ISIS MURDERER SENTENCED TO DEATH
The Iraqi judiciary on March 12, 2024 sentenced a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) murderer in Anbar province to death, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) reported
MARCH 12, 2024BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: MAN GETS DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE IN BAGERHAT
A court in Bagerhat on February 28, 2024 sentenced a man to death for killing his wife.
MARCH 12, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Executions for Adultery and Blasphemy in 2023
MARCH 12, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF 3-YEAR-OLD
A court in Haryana state on February 21, 2024 sentenced to death a 25- year-old man for the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in 2018, police said.