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
- AUGUST 30, 2006BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. MAN WRONGLY SENTENCED TO DEATH RELEASED AFTER TWO YEARS
a Bangladesh court overturned the sentence of Shah Alam Babu, a man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and condemned to death. Delivering its verdict, the High Court also ordered the trial judge in the case to be stripped of his judicial powers.
- AUGUST 29, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
the Jhargram Fast Track Court, India, sentenced to death Birbal Mahato, his cousin Prabir Mahato and grandfather Sudhir Mahato of Chhoto Salboni, West Midnapore.
- AUGUST 29, 2006KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
22 YEAR OLD INDIAN AWAITS DEATH IN KUWAIT JAIL
was reported that Shoukath, a 22-year-old Indian from the state of Kerala, was on death row in Kerala after surviving a suicide pact with a Nepali girl he had a love affair with. Shoukath had been imprisoned since December 2005. However, he had only recen
- AUGUST 25, 2006MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
a High Court in Muar, Malaysia, sentenced to death Abdul Razak Dalek...
a High Court in Muar, Malaysia, sentenced to death Abdul Razak Dalek...
- AUGUST 25, 2006BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. 21 TO DIE FOR MURDER OF RULING PARTY MEMBER
a Bangladeshi court sentenced 21 people to death for the 2004 killing of a member of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's ruling party.
- AUGUST 22, 2006NevadaDEATH PENALTY
a Las Vegas jury has condemned a 22-year-old man for stabbing...
a Las Vegas jury has condemned a 22-year-old man for stabbing a 3-year-old girl to death and seriously injuring her 10-year-old sister on Jan. 22, 2003.
- AUGUST 20, 2006South CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
Stephen Stanko, 38, was sentenced to death for the April 8...
Stephen Stanko, 38, was sentenced to death for the April 8...
- AUGUST 19, 2006FloridaDEATH PENALTY
in Punta Gorda, Stephen Smith was sentenced in the death...
in Punta Gorda, Stephen Smith was sentenced in the death...
- AUGUST 17, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MENTALLY ILL DRIVER WHO KILLED FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH REPRIEVE
Lin Qingqi, a driver whose car hit a group of people, killing four and injuring 22 in Kunming in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, was sentenced to death, suspended for two years.
- AUGUST 17, 2006OhioDEATH PENALTY
Donald Lavell Craig has been sentenced to death for the Jan...
Donald Lavell Craig has been sentenced to death for the Jan. 19, 1995 kidnapping, raping and strangling of 13-year-old Malissa Nicole Thomas.
- AUGUST 15, 2006BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. DHAKA BOMBERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
three Islamists were sentenced to death and five others jailed for life for a series of bombings in Bangladesh.
- AUGUST 12, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. MAN PUBLICLY HANGED FOR RAPE, MURDER
an Iranian man convicted of raping and murdering a five-year-old boy in March 2004 was hanged in public in the north-western city of Tabriz, the Kayhan newspaper reported.
- AUGUST 11, 2006KentuckyDEATH PENALTY
Phillip L. Brown has been sentenced to death by a Warren County jury.
Phillip L. Brown has been sentenced to death by a Warren County jury.
- AUGUST 10, 2006KentuckyDEATH PENALTY
a jury recommended the death penalty for Taquan C. Neblett.
a jury recommended the death penalty for Taquan C. Neblett.
- AUGUST 8, 2006OhioDEATH PENALTY
USA. OHIO EXECUTES TRIPLE-MURDERER WHO ASKED FOR DEATH
the state of Ohio executed Darrell Ferguson, a triple murderer who stabbed and stomped his elderly victims and later begged his trial judge to be put to death.
- AUGUST 8, 2006BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DIVIDING HEROIN
Sohrab Hossain, in his early 30’s, was sentenced to death and three female accomplices were awarded life imprisonment by a court in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- AUGUST 8, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. 19 YEAR OLD SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Fang Lei, 19...
- AUGUST 3, 2006KyrgyzstanDEATH PENALTY
KYRGYZSTAN. THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING KYRGYZ LAWMAKER
a court in Kyrgyzstan sentenced to death three men charged with killing a member of the Central Asian state's parliament.
- AUGUST 3, 2006IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. HIGH COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE TERM
taking a lenient view of the age of a man sentenced to death in a murder case, the Delhi High Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment.
- AUGUST 1, 2006IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN. WOMAN AT RISK OF IMMINENT EXECUTION
Delara Darabi, 19, has reportedly been sentenced to death for a second time after her case was retried. She is at risk of imminent execution for a murder which took place when she was 17 years old.
- JULY 31, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. HANGING WILL BE SADDAM'S DEATH PENALTY IF CONVICTED – PROSECUTOR
if the death penalty against Hussein was executed, it would be hanging until death and not by a shooting squad, said Jaafar Al-Mosawi, chief prosecutor of the trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. "It is a civil court not a military one," said
- JULY 31, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. BANKER SENTENCED TO DEATH
Wen Mengjie, an official from the Agricultural Bank of China, was sentenced to death for corruption involving 15 million yuan ($1.87-million).
- JULY 29, 2006ThailandDEATH PENALTY
THAILAND. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF 4
Anuchai Noithai, a man convicted of shooting four people dead, wounding three others and damaging seven vehicles after an argument with his ex-wife in 2005, was sentenced to death by the Saraburi Court, Thailand.
- JULY 27, 2006United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. STAY OF EXECUTION FOR DEATH ROW BRITON
Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, granted a one-month stay of execution to Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British man who was due to be put to death a week later.
- JULY 27, 2006BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. EIGHT TO GO TO GALLOWS FOR KILLING UP CHAIRMAN IN KHULNA
a court in Khulna, Bangladesh, convicted eight people and sentenced them to death for killing the chairman of the Surkhali union of Botiaghata district, Mostafa Habib in 1999.
- JULY 26, 2006IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. SADDAM OPTS FOR FIRING SQUAD
Saddam Hussein declared he would like to be executed by firing squad rather than hanged like "a common criminal" if sentenced to death at the end of his trial for genocide.
- JULY 24, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. DUO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF 5
the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court sentenced two gang leaders convicted of killing five people.
- JULY 22, 2006PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
an Additional District and Sessions Court in Pakistan sentenced a man only identified as Rafique to death for murder.
- JULY 21, 2006VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM. THREE DRUG DEALERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
a court in the northern province of Dien Bien handed down death sentences to three people and life imprisonment sentences to five others after they were convicted of cross-border drug trafficking.
- JULY 18, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR HACKING REVENGE
Liang Jiqian, a man in Qinzhou in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was sentenced to death after being convicted of hacking to death five children and one woman in an act of revenge.