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
- FEBRUARY 25, 2003TajikistanDEATH PENALTY
Tajikistan's Supreme Court has sentenced 11 Islamic...
Tajikistan's Supreme Court has sentenced 11 Islamic militants to death and jailed 74 of their comrades after finding them guilty of murder and kidnapping
- FEBRUARY 25, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A Vietnamese man was sentenced to death for murdering...
A Vietnamese man was sentenced to death for murdering and robbing a motorbike taxi driver in the central province of Lam Dong
- FEBRUARY 24, 2003South DakotaDEATH PENALTY
Juvenile murderers should remain eligible to receive...
Juvenile murderers should remain eligible to receive the death penalty in South Dakota, a split legislative committee recommended
- FEBRUARY 24, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Four drug traffickers were executed by firing squad...
Four drug traffickers were executed by firing squad in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, court officials said
- FEBRUARY 24, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Dharam Deva Yadav, an Indian national, was sentenced...
Dharam Deva Yadav, an Indian national, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of murdering New Zealand backpacker Diana Routley, 24, in August, 1997
- FEBRUARY 23, 2003BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A special court convicted Abdul Aziz Bishu, 25, and...
A special court convicted Abdul Aziz Bishu, 25, and condemned him to death for killing his wife for dowry in 1998
- FEBRUARY 22, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Chandrasekar, 46, was sentenced to death by a fast...
Chandrasekar, 46, was sentenced to death by a fast track court after being convicted of beheaded his son, Shanmugam, with a hacksaw on September 3, 2001, following a quarrel over the latter's inability to find a job
- FEBRUARY 22, 2003BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
Rafiq Mollah was sentenced to death in Bangladesh for...
Rafiq Mollah was sentenced to death in Bangladesh for beating his wife Sadar upazila to death over a family feud on February 8, 1994
- FEBRUARY 21, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Six drug traffickers were sentenced to death in southern...
Six drug traffickers were sentenced to death in southern Vietnam as part of the government's long-running campaign to wipe out the narcotics trade
- FEBRUARY 20, 2003BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A special court Noakhali, Bangladesh, condemned a youth...
A special court Noakhali, Bangladesh, condemned a youth to death and sentenced another to life term in jail for throwing acid on a teenage girl in 1999
- FEBRUARY 20, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three Hong Kong men were sentenced to death by a mainland...
Three Hong Kong men were sentenced to death by a mainland court for trafficking and selling more than 126kg of Ice
- FEBRUARY 17, 2003TexasDEATH PENALTY
In Houston, a man convicted for killing his girlfriend...
In Houston, a man convicted for killing his girlfriend was sentenced to death
- FEBRUARY 17, 2003TajikistanDEATH PENALTY
Khasan Saidov, 19, was sentenced to death by the Dushanbe...
Khasan Saidov, 19, was sentenced to death by the Dushanbe city court in Takikistan
- FEBRUARY 15, 2003UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Two UPDF soldiers and four other men were sentenced...
Two UPDF soldiers and four other men were sentenced to death by the High Court in Kampala for the murder of Lt
- FEBRUARY 15, 2003KenyaDEATH PENALTY
A court in Kenya sentenced two middle-aged men to death...
A court in Kenya sentenced two middle-aged men to death after they were found guilty of robbery with violence
- FEBRUARY 12, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Chinese court sentenced to death a man convicted...
A Chinese court sentenced to death a man convicted of blowing up a hotel and killing six people, including his lover's husband, the official Xinhua news agency reported
- FEBRUARY 12, 2003VirginiaDEATH PENALTY
In Roanoke County Circuit Court, Earl C
In Roanoke County Circuit Court, Earl C
- FEBRUARY 12, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Chinese man convicted of impersonating a policeman...
A Chinese man convicted of impersonating a policeman to carry out robberies, was sentenced to death with two year's suspension by a Beijing court, the official Xinhua news agency reported
- FEBRUARY 11, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Four brothers were sentenced to death in south China...
Four brothers were sentenced to death in south China for attempting to carry out two armed bank robberies which resulted in one person being killed and five others injured, state media said
- FEBRUARY 10, 2003OhioDEATH PENALTY
An inmate convicted of strangling his cellmate in November...
An inmate convicted of strangling his cellmate in November 2001 at Mansfield Correctional Institution, was sentenced to die
- FEBRUARY 6, 2003BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
Four people were sentenced to death and four others...
Four people were sentenced to death and four others sentenced to life imprisonment in the Murder Case of Gopal Krishna Muhuri
- FEBRUARY 5, 2003KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Peter Esinyeni Aroto and Eric Ebeno Ebei, both of Kenya,...
Peter Esinyeni Aroto and Eric Ebeno Ebei, both of Kenya, were sentenced to death by the Nairobi High Court after pleading guilty to murder
- FEBRUARY 3, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia reportedly sentenced a Yemeni national...
Saudi Arabia reportedly sentenced a Yemeni national to death for insulting the religion of his roommate
- FEBRUARY 3, 2003YemenDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia reportedly sentenced a Yemeni national...
Saudi Arabia reportedly sentenced a Yemeni national to death for insulting the religion of his roommate
- FEBRUARY 3, 2003IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri expressed...
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri expressed support for the execution of drug traffickers which had been sentenced to death
- JANUARY 31, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Five men were sentenced to death for kidnapping and...
Five men were sentenced to death for kidnapping and murdering a 13-year-old girl in Henan province
- JANUARY 31, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Nagasaki District Court sentenced a woman and her...
The Nagasaki District Court sentenced a woman and her lover to death for killing her husband and son in 1992 and 1998 in order to obtain life insurance money
- JANUARY 30, 2003JordanDEATH PENALTY
The Criminal Court sentenced to death Omar Qassem,...
The Criminal Court sentenced to death Omar Qassem, a 24-year-old man, after convicting him of murdering his future brother in law in April 2002, reported the Jordan Times
- JANUARY 29, 2003IndiaDEATH PENALTY
Seven people were sentenced to death and an equal number...
Seven people were sentenced to death and an equal number given life imprisonment by a sessions court in India for setting ablaze a bus which killed six persons in 1998 following a dispute over money
- JANUARY 29, 2003Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
The Kinshasa government issued a warrant for the arrest...
The Kinshasa government issued a warrant for the arrest of Xavier Chiribanya, who had just been named as governor of the eastern province of South Kivu by the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD)