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
- DECEMBER 15, 2003IllinoisDEATH PENALTY
Less than a year after being released from death row,...
Less than a year after being released from death row, Aaron Patterson is running for the Legislature with a pledge to change some of the laws he says wrongly put him behind bars
- DECEMBER 15, 2003MexicoDEATH PENALTY
Mexico accused the United States at an International...
Mexico accused the United States at an International Court of Justice hearing on of violating international law over its treatment of more than 50 Mexican nationals on death row
- DECEMBER 14, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court in New Delhi, India, sentenced to...
The Supreme Court in New Delhi, India, sentenced to death Shushil Murmu for 'sacrificing' his neighbour's nine-year child in 1996 to the Goddess Kali to gain prosperity and well being seven
- DECEMBER 13, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Two Vietnamese men were executed at dawn by firing...
Two Vietnamese men were executed at dawn by firing squad at an execution site in Thot Not town in southern Can Tho province
- DECEMBER 12, 2003PakistanDEATH PENALTY
A Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced 'Akhtar', a Pakistani...
A Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced 'Akhtar', a Pakistani national, to death on charges of smuggling heroin into the country
- DECEMBER 12, 2003KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
A Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced 'Akhtar', a Pakistani...
A Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced 'Akhtar', a Pakistani national, to death on charges of smuggling heroin into the country
- DECEMBER 12, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Ngo Minh, 33, committed suicide after being sentenced...
Ngo Minh, 33, committed suicide after being sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Vietnam's central province of Khanh Hoa, police said
- DECEMBER 12, 2003ColoradoDEATH PENALTY
In Jefferson County, William "Cody" Neal, whose death...
In Jefferson County, William "Cody" Neal, whose death sentence was overturned as a result of a U
- DECEMBER 11, 2003TexasDEATH PENALTY
William Irvan, 37, was sentenced to death for raping...
William Irvan, 37, was sentenced to death for raping and killing Michele Shadbolt, a 23-year-old mother, in her home Feb
- DECEMBER 11, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Four people were given death sentences, suspended for...
Four people were given death sentences, suspended for two years, and 30 others were jailed for up to life in a case involving a huge amount of illegal caffeine, state media reported
- DECEMBER 11, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Vu Quang Hiep, 28, was sentenced to death by a court...
Vu Quang Hiep, 28, was sentenced to death by a court in Hanoi for shooting dead a rival gangster on behalf of a friend trying to reclaim a debt
- DECEMBER 10, 2003PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
A Philippine court sentenced six men to death for kidnapping...
A Philippine court sentenced six men to death for kidnapping two ethnic Chinese sisters and their driver, just five days after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ended a moratorium on capital punishment
- DECEMBER 10, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Three Iranian prisoners convicted of murder were hanged...
Three Iranian prisoners convicted of murder were hanged in a jail in Tehran, one of whom killed and dissected his brother and niece, the Entekhab daily reported
- DECEMBER 10, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Ignoring appeals from human rights groups, Vietnam...
Ignoring appeals from human rights groups, Vietnam sentenced at least 100 people to death up to December 8 and the country's get-tough-on-crime policy showed no signs of letting up
- DECEMBER 9, 2003BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
The Speedy Trial Court in Chittagong, Bangladesh, sentenced...
The Speedy Trial Court in Chittagong, Bangladesh, sentenced five people to death, including four Bangladesh Chhatra League activists, and nine others to life imprisonment for the abduction and murder Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Nurul Islam
- DECEMBER 9, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A man in central China was found guilty of murdering...
A man in central China was found guilty of murdering 17 boys and sentenced to death
- DECEMBER 8, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Criminal execution methods used in Southeast Asian...
Criminal execution methods used in Southeast Asian countries would be studied in detail to find a suitable system for use in Papua New Guinea, said Justice Minister Mark Maipakai
- DECEMBER 4, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Qazma al-Qahtani, a Saudi woman condemned to death...
Qazma al-Qahtani, a Saudi woman condemned to death for suffocating her Saudi husband, Saeed al-Qahtani, as he slept, was beheaded by the sword on in Assir, in the south of the kingdom
- DECEMBER 3, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mashan al-Shamri, a Saudi citizen sentenced to death...
Mashan al-Shamri, a Saudi citizen sentenced to death for killing his father with a machine gun while he was asleep, was beheaded by sword in the eastern city of Dammam
- DECEMBER 2, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A court in Vietnam has sentenced a woman to death for...
A court in Vietnam has sentenced a woman to death for embezzlement and said two former vice ministers of agriculture would both be jailed for three years after a trial that exposed state corruption
- NOVEMBER 30, 2003BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
Nurul Islam was convicted and sentenced to death in...
Nurul Islam was convicted and sentenced to death in Bangladesh for killing his wife Jahanara Khatum in July, 1999
- NOVEMBER 30, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Huang Yaquan and Huang Shengyu, two prisoners wrongly...
Huang Yaquan and Huang Shengyu, two prisoners wrongly convicted of robbery in March 1994 and given suspended death sentences were released and given compensation by a court in southern China's Hainan province
- NOVEMBER 30, 2003BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A court in Meherpur, Bangladesh, sentenced to death...
A court in Meherpur, Bangladesh, sentenced to death Qader, Yasin and Hossain and awarded life imprisonment to Saiful after convicting them of murder
- NOVEMBER 30, 2003BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
Julmur Raza Babul was sentenced to death after being...
Julmur Raza Babul was sentenced to death after being convicted of murdering his mother after an argument on December 14, 1999
- NOVEMBER 30, 2003BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A man named Salimullah was sentenced to death in Dhaka,...
A man named Salimullah was sentenced to death in Dhaka, Bangladesh, for murdering his wife in April 2001
- NOVEMBER 30, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Xie Deming and Cui Wenxian, two leaders of a gang accused...
Xie Deming and Cui Wenxian, two leaders of a gang accused of trafficking 118 babies, were sentenced to death by the Yulin city Intermediate People's Court in the southern China, state media said
- NOVEMBER 28, 2003Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
A Myanmar court has sentenced nine people to death...
A Myanmar court has sentenced nine people to death for high treason, including the editor of a sports magazine, legal community sources said
- NOVEMBER 28, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Chinese couple were sentenced to death for the murder...
A Chinese couple were sentenced to death for the murder of 12 women who had been lured with offers of jobs, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported
- NOVEMBER 27, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Chinese man who beheaded a crying baby during a botched...
A Chinese man who beheaded a crying baby during a botched 10 yuan (1
- NOVEMBER 27, 2003AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
An assurance that Michael McCrea, a 45 year old British...
An assurance that Michael McCrea, a 45 year old British national wanted in Singapore over a double murder, would not face the death penalty if he was extradited from Australia was not legally enforceable, the Australian Federal Court was told