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
- JANUARY 29, 2003UgandaDEATH PENALTY
A Ugandan High Court sitting in Mbale sentenced a man...
A Ugandan High Court sitting in Mbale sentenced a man to death for murder
- JANUARY 28, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Two prisoners on Iran's death row and eight other inmates...
Two prisoners on Iran's death row and eight other inmates held in Varamin prison southeast of Tehran have escaped after using teaspoons to dig a six-metre tunnel, a newspaper reported
- JANUARY 28, 2003Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
The wives of the men sentenced to death in connection...
The wives of the men sentenced to death in connection with the January 2001 murder of then-President Laurent-Desire Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), protested against the suspension of their visitation rights during a news conference
- JANUARY 27, 2003TajikistanDEATH PENALTY
A court in Tajikistan sentenced a man to death for...
A court in Tajikistan sentenced a man to death for the killing of an employee of a German humanitarian aid organization in the Central Asian nation's capital
- JANUARY 27, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Tibetan government-in-exile and rights groups condemned...
The Tibetan government-in-exile and rights groups condemned China's execution of a Tibetan activist convicted of a series of bomb blasts, saying he was not given a fair trial
- JANUARY 25, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Three people were sentenced to death for murder in...
Three people were sentenced to death for murder in southern Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring Can Tho province
- JANUARY 23, 2003Papua New GuineaDEATH PENALTY
A Papua New Guinean court has sentenced a man to death...
A Papua New Guinean court has sentenced a man to death by hanging for the murder of two teenage boys - the fifth person to face the death penalty in the South Pacific nation in the past 12 years
- JANUARY 21, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
North Koreans arrested by China while trying to escape...
North Koreans arrested by China while trying to escape by boat are likely to be jailed and could face death, their supporters said as Beijing warned aid groups away from helping the refugees
- JANUARY 21, 2003North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
North Koreans arrested by China while trying to escape...
North Koreans arrested by China while trying to escape by boat are likely to be jailed and could face death, their supporters said as Beijing warned aid groups away from helping the refugees
- JANUARY 18, 2003North CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
In what perhaps was a watershed year for North Carolina's...
In what perhaps was a watershed year for North Carolina's death penalty, more death row inmates got reduced sentences - or the chance at them - in 2002 than were allowed to die
- JANUARY 17, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian court sentenced one man to death and two...
An Iranian court sentenced one man to death and two others to 10-year jail terms for cooperating with an outlawed leftist Kurdish rebel group, the official IRNA news agency reported
- JANUARY 15, 2003VirginiaDEATH PENALTY
A Prince William County jury recommended that Paul...
A Prince William County jury recommended that Paul Warner Powell, 24, be put to death for stabbing 16-year-old Stacie Reed through the heart after trying to rape her, a verdict that could send Powell back to death row for the 1999 attack
- JANUARY 15, 2003BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A 25-year-old Bangladeshi man received the death penalty...
A 25-year-old Bangladeshi man received the death penalty for maiming two people with acid, the first time the sentence has been given for such a crime, judicial sources said
- JANUARY 15, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Jin Yugang, 35, was sentenced to death by the High...
Jin Yugang, 35, was sentenced to death by the High Court for murdering his colleague, Mr Wang Hong, 32, in front of a coffeeshop at midnight on February 4, 2002
- JANUARY 13, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China sentenced 10 people to death in two separate...
China sentenced 10 people to death in two separate cases in central and eastern China involving drug trafficking and armed robberies along highways, state media said
- JANUARY 13, 2003KazakhstanDEATH PENALTY
Eighteen people were sentenced to death in Kazakhstan...
Eighteen people were sentenced to death in Kazakhstan in 2002
- JANUARY 13, 2003South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
Six South Korean men were sentenced to death in China...
Six South Korean men were sentenced to death in China for drug trafficking
- JANUARY 13, 2003Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
Human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of...
Human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo condemned the execution of 15 people sentenced to death
- JANUARY 13, 2003KenyaDEATH PENALTY
Kenya's new government wants to abolish the death penalty...
Kenya's new government wants to abolish the death penalty within the next six months, Justice Minister Kiraitu Murungi said
- JANUARY 13, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six South Korean men were sentenced to death in China...
Six South Korean men were sentenced to death in China for drug trafficking
- JANUARY 13, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Five convicted drug traffickers were sentenced to death...
Five convicted drug traffickers were sentenced to death by a local court in Zhejiang Province
- JANUARY 13, 2003UkraineDEATH PENALTY
Viktoria Mamontova, a Ukrainian woman who was sentenced...
Viktoria Mamontova, a Ukrainian woman who was sentenced to death for drug possession in Thailand, had her sentence commuted
- JANUARY 13, 2003ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Viktoria Mamontova, a Ukrainian woman who was sentenced...
Viktoria Mamontova, a Ukrainian woman who was sentenced to death for drug possession in Thailand, had her sentence commuted
- JANUARY 10, 2003ArizonaDEATH PENALTY
The Maricopa County Superior Court handed down the...
The Maricopa County Superior Court handed down the death penalty on Richard Glassel, 62, the enraged homeowner who killed 2 women in a shooting spree in a retirement community
- JANUARY 8, 2003VietnamDEATH PENALTY
A Vietnamese court condemned Pham Van Thuan to death...
A Vietnamese court condemned Pham Van Thuan to death for trafficking 8 kilograms of heroin from neighbouring Laos into Vietnam, said a court official in Nam Dinh province, 100 kilometres south of Hanoi
- JANUARY 7, 2003Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
A former aide to the late Congolese President Laurent-Desire...
A former aide to the late Congolese President Laurent-Desire Kabila, Colonel Eddy Kapend, was sentenced to death for killing the president
- JANUARY 7, 2003MarylandDEATH PENALTY
Blacks who kill whites are significantly more likely...
Blacks who kill whites are significantly more likely to face the death penalty in Maryland than are blacks who kill blacks or white killers, according to a state-sponsored study
- JANUARY 6, 2003EthiopiaDEATH PENALTY
The Ethiopian High Court sentenced to death five people...
The Ethiopian High Court sentenced to death five people found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1977-78 "Red Terror" period of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam
- JANUARY 6, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The state-run Bahar daily reported that a young prisoner...
The state-run Bahar daily reported that a young prisoner named Hossein was sentenced to death
- JANUARY 6, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The wife of death-row Iranian academic Hashem Aghajari,...
The wife of death-row Iranian academic Hashem Aghajari, as well as several jailed liberal opposition members and journalists signed up to stand in Iran's forthcoming municipal elections, officials said