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
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A court in Tibet sentenced two Nepalese to death, close...
A court in Tibet sentenced two Nepalese to death, close on the heels of an outcry in Nepal over the same punishment awarded to two more Nepalese in an earlier case
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Two drug traffickers were sentenced to death in Vietnam...
Two drug traffickers were sentenced to death in Vietnam while two of their gang members were jailed for life
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The crimes were the same
The crimes were the same
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A south Chinese court sentenced to death five people...
A south Chinese court sentenced to death five people for the murder of former Phoenix TV vice president Zhou Yinan and his family
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A Delhi court, India, sentenced to death Brijkishore...
A Delhi court, India, sentenced to death Brijkishore alias Bittu for killing another person by stabbing him 23 times on a road
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2004NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A Court of Appeal in Malaysia upheld the death sentence...
A Court of Appeal in Malaysia upheld the death sentence of Msimanga Lesaly, a 37-year-old Nigerian businesswoman, for drug trafficking
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2004MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
A Court of Appeal in Malaysia upheld the death sentence...
A Court of Appeal in Malaysia upheld the death sentence of Msimanga Lesaly, a 37-year-old Nigerian businesswoman, for drug trafficking
- SEPTEMBER 8, 2004ThailandDEATH PENALTY
A Thai woman who had been sentenced to death in Indonesia...
A Thai woman who had been sentenced to death in Indonesia for possessing 12
- SEPTEMBER 8, 2004IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
A Thai woman who had been sentenced to death in Indonesia...
A Thai woman who had been sentenced to death in Indonesia for possessing 12
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A court in Khulna, Bangladesh, sentenced Adhir Kumar...
A court in Khulna, Bangladesh, sentenced Adhir Kumar Biswas to death after convicting him of killing his wife Gita Rani for dowry at Doba village in the country's Rupsa district on May 16, 2000
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Chinese court sentenced two drug dealers to death...
A Chinese court sentenced two drug dealers to death after they dismembered the body of a gang member who died when transporting heroin in his stomach
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2004ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Salad Killian Mwiika, a 52-year-old farmer from Monze,...
Salad Killian Mwiika, a 52-year-old farmer from Monze, Zambia, walked to freedom after the Supreme Court quashed the death sentence handed to him by the Livingstone High Court after finding him guilty of three counts of murder
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Indian Supreme Court acquitted a member of the...
The Indian Supreme Court acquitted a member of the All Assam Tiger Force sentenced to death by a trial court for kidnapping and killing two boys
- SEPTEMBER 4, 2004IranDEATH PENALTY
a man in Tehran named Mohammad Reza Vakili was sentenced to death
a man in Tehran named Mohammad Reza Vakili was sentenced to death
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2004AlabamaDEATH PENALTY
In Dothan, 23-year-old Brandyn Benjamin has been given...
In Dothan, 23-year-old Brandyn Benjamin has been given a death sentence
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2004IranDEATH PENALTY
three people in Mashad were sentenced to death
three people in Mashad were sentenced to death
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Keishi Nago, a 34-year-old man who was sentenced to...
Keishi Nago, a 34-year-old man who was sentenced to death by the Kagoshima District Court on June 18 for murdering his brother Hirofumi, 44, Hirofumi's wife Kazumi, 40, and their daughter Chihiro, 17, on Tokunoshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, in August
- AUGUST 31, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Masumi Hayashi, given the death sentence for murdering...
Masumi Hayashi, given the death sentence for murdering four people with poisoned curry in 1998 in Wakayama, said she decided to end her silence in court because she had never expected to face such a sentence
- AUGUST 31, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A court in Bangladesh sentenced to death Mohammad Aziz,...
A court in Bangladesh sentenced to death Mohammad Aziz, 30, for rape and murder
- AUGUST 30, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A court Bangladesh sentenced 10 people to death for...
A court Bangladesh sentenced 10 people to death for shooting dead five politicians at a 1999 political rally, which has been scarred by years of political violence
- AUGUST 29, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Five people, including a Noida police sub-inspector,...
Five people, including a Noida police sub-inspector, were sentenced to death by a court in Faridabad, India, for their involvement in a case in which four people were murdered in December 1999
- AUGUST 29, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A court in Chittagong, Bangladesh, sentenced six people...
A court in Chittagong, Bangladesh, sentenced six people to death for the murder of a Buddhist monk, Gyan Jyoti Mohasthobir
- AUGUST 28, 2004YemenDEATH PENALTY
Yemeni was sentenced to death and 14 others to jail...
Yemeni was sentenced to death and 14 others to jail over the 2002 bombing of the French supertanker Limburg and for other attacks
- AUGUST 27, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court rejected a plea for a retrial...
The Tokyo High Court rejected a plea for a retrial by Iwao Hakamada, a former professional boxer who had been on death row for 36 years for the 1966 murder of a family of four in Shizuoka Prefecture, upholding a lower court decision to reject the request
- AUGUST 27, 2004VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Du Phuoc Hung, 21, was sentenced to death by firing...
Du Phuoc Hung, 21, was sentenced to death by firing squad in Vietnam for murder and the destruction of private property following a failed love affair
- AUGUST 25, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
a man named Abdul Islam was hanged in Bangladesh for murder
a man named Abdul Islam was hanged in Bangladesh for murder
- AUGUST 23, 2004IllinoisDEATH PENALTY
Former death row inmate Rolando Cruz was sentenced...
Former death row inmate Rolando Cruz was sentenced to 60 days in jail in Livingston County for drunken driving and other traffic charges (see Sept
- AUGUST 23, 2004IranDEATH PENALTY
the Judicial system in Tehran sentenced two men to execution
the Judicial system in Tehran sentenced two men to execution
- AUGUST 21, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
a man named Alal Uddin Alal was hanged in Bangladesh for murder
a man named Alal Uddin Alal was hanged in Bangladesh for murder
- AUGUST 16, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
a man named Golam Mortuza was hanged in Bangladesh for murder
a man named Golam Mortuza was hanged in Bangladesh for murder