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
- APRIL 4, 2005North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
UK. BBC AIRS FILM OF NORTH KOREAN PUBLIC EXECUTION
the BBC broadcast footage purportedly showing the public execution of North Koreans caught trying to flee the country. The videotape obtained exclusively by the BBC was reportedly filmed clandestinely in a village near the North's border with China a mont
- APRIL 3, 2005BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. MAN SENTENCED TO DIE FOR MURDER
a man named as Morshed was sentenced to death in Comilla, Bangladesh, for the murder of a rickshaw puller about six years previously.
- MARCH 31, 2005IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ: SADDAM TO GET DEATH SENTENCE, JUDGE
an Iraqi judge on the court that will try Saddam Hussein said the former Iraqi dictator committed many crimes and likely will be sentenced to death.
- MARCH 31, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. TOP GUANGZHOU HOSPITAL DOES ROARING TRADE IN EXECUTED PRISONER ORGANS, EDITORIAL
it was reported that the No. 1 and No. 3 Hospitals affiliated to the prestigious Sun Yat-sen University in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou was carrying out a lucrative trade in liver transplants using organs harvested from executed convicts.
- MARCH 31, 2005NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA. TWO MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MOTEL MURDER
Bayo Ajia and Olayinka Aare were sentenced to death by the Ilorin High Court, in Nigeria’s Kwara state, after being found guilty of the murder of Abdul Yekini Gobir and AbdulGaniyu Isele in an Ilorin hotel.
- MARCH 30, 2005RussiaDEATH PENALTY
RUSSIA. CONVICTED MURDERER PREFERS EXECUTION TO ROTTING IN JAIL
terrorised by the idea of staying behind bars for the rest of his life, Sergei Deineko, a Russian man convicted of six brutal murders turned to the Supreme Court with the unique appeal to cancel the pardon which replaced his death penalty with a life term
- MARCH 29, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER OF 11-YR-OLD GIRL
the second fast track court in Cooch Behar, India, sentenced Nepal Mandal to death for raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in 1999.
- MARCH 29, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
Junya Hattori
Junya Hattori
- MARCH 28, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN TO HANG AFTER BOTCHED ASSASSINATION BID LEAVES 3 DEAD
Masato Kohinata, a member of an organised crime group who shot to death three random customers at a bar while trying to assassinate a rival gang boss, was sentenced to death.
- MARCH 26, 2005MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA. BUSINESSMAN TO BE HANGED FOR MURDER AFTER PROSECUTORS' APPEAL
Kenneth Lee Fook Mun, a Malaysian businessman, was sentenced to death after prosecutors won an appeal for harsher punishment over the shooting death of an accountant.
- MARCH 24, 2005IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
last-minute efforts by Samuel Iwukchukwu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwalise...
last-minute efforts by Samuel Iwukchukwu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwalise...
- MARCH 22, 2005IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA. GOVERNMENT URGED TO EXECUTE CONVICTED DRUG TRAFFICEKRS ON DEATH-ROW SOON
a member of the House of Representatives Commission III, Almuzammil Yusuf of the Prosperous Justice Party, called on the Indonesian government to implement the death sentences of a number of convicted drug traffickers soon.
- MARCH 20, 2005BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. THREE PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
Muhibur Rahman, Billal Ahmed and Abdul Latif were sentenced to death by a court in Sylhet, Bangladesh, for killing a day-labourer in the Jaintapur district.
- MARCH 19, 2005IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA. BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT SEEKING CLEMENCY FOR DRUG SMUGGLER
Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was to make a special appeal to Indonesia for clemency for Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, a Brazilian national condemned to death for drug smuggling.
- MARCH 18, 2005South CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
in a Richland County courtroom, Circuit Judge G. Thomas Cooper sentenced...
in a Richland County courtroom, Circuit Judge G. Thomas Cooper sentenced the 25-year-old Quincy Allen to death for the 2002 slayings of Dale Evonne Hall and Jedediah Harr.
- MARCH 16, 2005BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. LAWYERS APPEAL DEATH CONVICTION, CITING NAME MIX-UP
a Bangladeshi with the same nickname as a murder suspect was mistakenly tried and sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, his lawyers told a court.
- MARCH 16, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. “I STILL SUPPORT THE DEATH PENALTY”, BUSH
in a news conference President Bush urged stated his support for the death penalty. The following is a transcript of his remarks:
- MARCH 11, 2005CaliforniaDEATH PENALTY
Taylor Helzer and his younger brother Justin Alan Helzer have been formally sentenced to death
Taylor Helzer and his younger brother Justin Alan Helzer have been formally sentenced to death
- MARCH 11, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. TOP ISLAMIC COURT THROWS OUT GANGRAPE ACQUITTAL
Pakistan's top Islamic court, the Federal Shariat Court based in Islamabad, threw out the acquittal of five people convicted of raping a woman on the orders of a tribal village jury.
- MARCH 10, 2005VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
Vo Van Viet, a Vietnamese man, was sentenced to death for murder after dowsing his victim with gasoline and setting him on fire in a drunken dispute.
- MARCH 10, 2005South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
SOUTH AFRICA. CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO DECIDE ON DEATH ROW PRISONERS
sixty-two prisoners were still under sentence of death although the death penalty was declared invalid in South Africa 10 years ago, the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg heard.
- MARCH 7, 2005BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. THREE PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
three men were sentenced to death for shooting down two people in the Sherpur district of Bangladesh during a gang attack.
- MARCH 4, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. RIGHTS GROUPS SLAM GANG RAPE VERDICT
Pakistani human rights groups criticised the government and police after a court overturned the convictions of five men sentenced to death in a high-profile gang-rape case.
- MARCH 4, 2005MexicoDEATH PENALTY
US. BUSH ORDERS COURTS TO GIVE FOREIGN NATIONALS ON DEATH ROW FURTHER REVIEW
the White House has ordered state courts to consider the complaints of 51 Mexican foreign nationals on death row in the United States, International Herald Tribune reported.
- MARCH 3, 2005Sri LankaDEATH PENALTY
SRI LANKA. MINISTER'S WIFE AND THREE OTHERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
N. Mary Juliet Monica Fernando, wife of Christian and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Milroy Fernando and three other accused were sentenced to death in Sri Lanka by Colombo High Court judge Upali Abeyaratne after a jury turned in a guilty verdict in the m
- MARCH 3, 2005Palestinian TerritoriesDEATH PENALTY
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY. TOP CLERIC APPROVES PALESTINIAN EXECUTIONS
the Palestinian Authority is set to resume the execution of prisoners on death row, with at least five sentences due to be carried out in March.
- MARCH 2, 2005IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. CORBY COULD DIE IN INDONESIAN JAIL, SAYS FRIEND
accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby was being railroaded through an Indonesian court without a fair trial while the Australian government did nothing to stop it, businessman Ron Bakir said
- MARCH 2, 2005BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE
Mahtabuddin Ahmed, a rickshaw-puller, was sentenced to death by a court in Pirojpur, Bangladesh for killing his wife.
- MARCH 1, 2005MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA. RESTAURANT OWNER ESCAPES GALLOWS
restaurant owner Cheah Yoon Lim escaped the gallows when the Malaysian Court of Appeals amended a drug charge from trafficking to possessing 70.2 grammes of the prohibited substance.
- MARCH 1, 2005EthiopiaDEATH PENALTY
ETHIOPIA. GENOCIDE CONVICT SENTENCED TO DEATH
the Federal High Court of Ethiopia sentenced to death Colonel Tiruneh Habteselassie for genocide committed during the Dergue regime in the former Kembata and Hadiya district. Habteselassie was found guilty on two charges, homicide and extrajudicial impris