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 10, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
Arshad Hawlader, 30, was sentenced to death by an additional...
Arshad Hawlader, 30, was sentenced to death by an additional district and sessions court in Barisal, Bangladesh, after being found guilty of killing his wife
- APRIL 9, 2004FranceDEATH PENALTY
Assured that accused murderer Paul Eduardovich Goldman...
Assured that accused murderer Paul Eduardovich Goldman would not face the death penalty in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a French court agreed to extradite him to the United States
- APRIL 9, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Assured that accused murderer Paul Eduardovich Goldman...
Assured that accused murderer Paul Eduardovich Goldman would not face the death penalty in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a French court agreed to extradite him to the United States
- APRIL 8, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Liu Xiaojun was sentenced to death after being convicted...
Liu Xiaojun was sentenced to death after being convicted by the Intermediate People's Court of Tieling City, in northeast China's Liaoning Province, of leading a 34 member criminal gang
- APRIL 6, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A court in Kuhlna, Bangladesh, sentenced Silvester...
A court in Kuhlna, Bangladesh, sentenced Silvester Roy to death for killing his wife
- APRIL 2, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three people received the death penalty in Guangzhou...
Three people received the death penalty in Guangzhou city three people were sentenced to death by the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court for their role in the largest ecstasy and ice trafficking case in China
- MARCH 31, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A special court in Barisal, Bangladesh, sentenced Kamal...
A special court in Barisal, Bangladesh, sentenced Kamal Sarder, 38, to death for murder
- MARCH 31, 2004South CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
Troy Burkhart will return to death row for killing...
Troy Burkhart will return to death row for killing 3 people more than 6 years ago
- MARCH 31, 2004SudanDEATH PENALTY
Nyala Criminal Court sentenced two men to death by...
Nyala Criminal Court sentenced two men to death by hanging under articles 130 and 175 of the 1991 Penal Code
- MARCH 30, 2004MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
Mohamad Sofri Che Ani, was sentenced to death by the...
Mohamad Sofri Che Ani, was sentenced to death by the Malaysian High Court for trafficking in 3,632gm of cannabis
- MARCH 30, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Tomoyuki Furusawa was sentenced to death by the Yokohama...
Tomoyuki Furusawa was sentenced to death by the Yokohama District Court, Japan, after being convicted of murder and illegal confinement
- MARCH 30, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Idris Mia, 35, was sentenced to death and...
Mohammad Idris Mia, 35, was sentenced to death and nine others to various terms imprisonment by a Speedy Trial Tribunal in Chittagong, Bangladesh, after they were convicted of murder
- MARCH 30, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A court in Dhaka, Bangladesh, sentenced Tofael Ahmed...
A court in Dhaka, Bangladesh, sentenced Tofael Ahmed Joshep, 35, and Tariq Sayeef alias Mamun, 30, to death and four others to life imprisonment for shooting an activist of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist
- MARCH 30, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A court in Tangail, Bangladesh, sentenced nine people...
A court in Tangail, Bangladesh, sentenced nine people to death and one man to life imprisonment after convicting them of murder
- MARCH 30, 2004IndiaDEATH PENALTY
U.K. Venugopal was sentenced to death by a fast track...
U.K. Venugopal was sentenced to death by a fast track court in Manjeri, India, after being found guilty of murdering his employer
- MARCH 29, 2004Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Ben Simakot, convicted of raping a mother and then...
Ben Simakot, convicted of raping a mother and then bludgeoned her and her two-year-old son to death with an iron bar, was sentenced to death in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea
- MARCH 29, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
Ilyas Sheikh, 30, was sentenced to death in absentia...
Ilyas Sheikh, 30, was sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Bagerhat, Bangladesh, for killing his elder brother at Chandipur in the Moralganj district
- MARCH 29, 2004Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
Three people in Myanmar were convicted of high treason...
Three people in Myanmar were convicted of high treason and sentenced to death for having contacts with the UN's International Labor Organization, according to the ILO
- MARCH 29, 2004PakistanDEATH PENALTY
A court in Karachi, Pakistan, convicted and sentenced...
A court in Karachi, Pakistan, convicted and sentenced to death Zulfiqar Ali for fatally shooting two police officers outside the US consulate in Karachi
- MARCH 26, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Abdul-Karim al-Ghoraid, a 21-year-old convicted Saudi...
Abdul-Karim al-Ghoraid, a 21-year-old convicted Saudi murderer, escaped death by seconds when he was forgiven by his victim's father as he knelt down before the executioner's sword
- MARCH 25, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Sendai District Court, Japan, sentenced 40-year-old...
The Sendai District Court, Japan, sentenced 40-year-old Shu Takahashi to death and four other people to life imprisonment for murder, robbery and other charges
- MARCH 24, 2004BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A court in Sylhet, Bangladesh, sentenced Fazal Khan...
A court in Sylhet, Bangladesh, sentenced Fazal Khan to death and two brothers, Arshod and Waris Khan, to life imprisonment for murder case
- MARCH 24, 2004SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
The following is an editorial entitled " Singapore's...
The following is an editorial entitled " Singapore's Grim Parade Of Death" published in the Australian pubilcation 'The Age'
- MARCH 24, 2004AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
The following is an editorial entitled " Singapore's...
The following is an editorial entitled " Singapore's Grim Parade Of Death" published in the Australian pubilcation 'The Age'
- MARCH 24, 2004KentuckyDEATH PENALTY
In Kenton County, Circuit Judge Douglas Stephens followed...
In Kenton County, Circuit Judge Douglas Stephens followed the Jury's recommendations and sentenced Fred Furnish to death for a 2nd time for the July 25, 1998 robbery and murder of Ramona Jean Williamson
- MARCH 22, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ten people convicted of violent robbery and kidnapping...
Ten people convicted of violent robbery and kidnapping were sentenced to death in southern China's Shenzhen city, with four of them given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve
- MARCH 22, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six leading members of a gang of robbers were handed...
Six leading members of a gang of robbers were handed death death sentences in Shenzhen, China
- MARCH 22, 2004JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that hundreds of death row prisoners...
It was reported that hundreds of death row prisoners in Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica could win a reprieve if an unprecedented privy council hearing beginning in London ruled that the mandatory death penalty for murder was unconstitutional
- MARCH 22, 2004BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The appeal was the culmination of a strategy deployed...
The appeal was the culmination of a strategy deployed over the last six years by English lawyers working free of charge on behalf of Caribbean death row inmates
- MARCH 22, 2004United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The campaign had been spearheaded by the London law...
The campaign had been spearheaded by the London law firm Simons Muirhead and Burton, which represented three of the four men appeal including, Charles Matthews, from Trinidad, and Lennox Boyce and Jeffrey Joseph, from Barbados