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
- NOVEMBER 21, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Hong Kong resident Cheung Tin-shung and mainlander...
Hong Kong resident Cheung Tin-shung and mainlander Cheung Siu-ngan were sentenced to death by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court for trafficking in drugs
- NOVEMBER 16, 2002UgandaDEATH PENALTY
Justice Augustine Kania of the High Court has convicted...
Justice Augustine Kania of the High Court has convicted and sentenced to death a Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) an Local Defence Unit (LDU) soldier after finding them guilty of murder
- NOVEMBER 15, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hundreds of hardline demonstrators in Tehran called...
Hundreds of hardline demonstrators in Tehran called for the execution of Hashem Aghajari, a popular academic and ally of President Mohammad Khatami sentenced to death for blasphemy
- NOVEMBER 14, 2002FijiDEATH PENALTY
A Fiji military court sentenced the leader of a failed...
A Fiji military court sentenced the leader of a failed mutiny to death but court officials said the sentence was automatically commuted to life in prison
- NOVEMBER 13, 2002IllinoisDEATH PENALTY
In Peoria, a jury of 7 men and 5 women deliberated...
In Peoria, a jury of 7 men and 5 women deliberated almost 9 hours before sentencing Dale W
- NOVEMBER 12, 2002BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A court awarded capital punishment to seven people...
A court awarded capital punishment to seven people in a murder case
- NOVEMBER 10, 2002BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A man was condemned to death by a court for killing...
A man was condemned to death by a court for killing his wife in 1993
- NOVEMBER 7, 2002PakistanDEATH PENALTY
A court in Pakistan condemned a man to death and 100...
A court in Pakistan condemned a man to death and 100 lashes for killing his aunt and her one-year-old baby
- NOVEMBER 7, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
In blocking the execution of a Texas killer, the Supreme...
In blocking the execution of a Texas killer, the Supreme Court revealed interest in a new area of capital punishment: the mentally ill
- NOVEMBER 5, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian woman found guilty of complicity to murder...
An Iranian woman found guilty of complicity to murder survived her execution by stoning by managing to escape the hole she was buried in, the Women In Iran website reported
- NOVEMBER 4, 2002SpainDEATH PENALTY
Peter Raben, the attorney for Pablo Ibar, a Spaniard...
Peter Raben, the attorney for Pablo Ibar, a Spaniard on death row in Florida, plans to appeal the sentence against his client
- NOVEMBER 3, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The United Committee for the Abolition of the Death...
The United Committee for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, a Hong Kong-based group, launched a signature campaign along with religious and human rights organisations in Italy, Australia, France, the US and Taiwan
- OCTOBER 31, 2002IndiaDEATH PENALTY
A local court has sentenced a youth to capital punishment...
A local court has sentenced a youth to capital punishment for raping and murdering a minor school girl, last year
- OCTOBER 31, 2002OklahomaDEATH PENALTY
An Oklahoma County jury has recommended Alfred Brian...
An Oklahoma County jury has recommended Alfred Brian Mitchell, 29, be sentenced to death for the Jan
- OCTOBER 28, 2002IllinoisDEATH PENALTY
Illinois' marathon death penalty clemency hearings...
Illinois' marathon death penalty clemency hearings drew to an end after more than two weeks of gruesome accounts and tearful pleas by victims' families
- OCTOBER 24, 2002Palestinian TerritoriesDEATH PENALTY
A Palestinian security court sentenced a 22-year-old...
A Palestinian security court sentenced a 22-year-old university student to death by firing squad for giving Israel information that led to a July air raid, which killed a top Muslim militant and 15 others
- OCTOBER 24, 2002MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
The 539 people sentenced to death by hanging from 1957...
The 539 people sentenced to death by hanging from 1957 until now, including 313 Muslims, were accorded their religious rights before and after the sentence was carried out, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Zainal Abidin Zin said
- OCTOBER 23, 2002BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
A man aged about 34 was sentenced to death for killing...
A man aged about 34 was sentenced to death for killing the elder sister of his divorced wife four years ago
- OCTOBER 22, 2002GermanyDEATH PENALTY
Mounir Motassadeq's trial, a 28-year-old Moroccan who...
Mounir Motassadeq's trial, a 28-year-old Moroccan who has acknowledged knowing the hijackers, detained in Hamburg, could test the extent of U
- OCTOBER 22, 2002JordanDEATH PENALTY
A Jordanian journalist was condemned to death for spying...
A Jordanian journalist was condemned to death for spying for a "foreign country" by Qatar's supreme court, said his lawyer Issa al-Manai
- OCTOBER 22, 2002QatarDEATH PENALTY
A Jordanian journalist was condemned to death for spying...
A Jordanian journalist was condemned to death for spying for a "foreign country" by Qatar's supreme court, said his lawyer Issa al-Manai
- OCTOBER 16, 2002CzechiaDEATH PENALTY
A Czech sentenced to death in Yugoslavia recently had...
A Czech sentenced to death in Yugoslavia recently had his sentenced commuted to 40 years in prison
- OCTOBER 15, 2002NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
A 54-year-old man sentenced to death by an Islamic...
A 54-year-old man sentenced to death by an Islamic court in northern Nigeria denied his confessional statement, saying he gave it under duress
- OCTOBER 15, 2002AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
An Afghan tribunal sentenced one of the country's most...
An Afghan tribunal sentenced one of the country's most notorious commanders to death for murdering dozens of people, including three of his wives and five of his children
- OCTOBER 15, 2002TanzaniaDEATH PENALTY
The Tanzanian High Court sentenced to death two people...
The Tanzanian High Court sentenced to death two people for murdering their wives
- OCTOBER 14, 2002IllinoisDEATH PENALTY
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- OCTOBER 14, 2002SamoaDEATH PENALTY
A 21-year-old Samoan man has been sentenced to death...
A 21-year-old Samoan man has been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in Samoa for shooting dead a plantation worker earlier this year
- OCTOBER 14, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
In Tehran, five young taxi-drivers were sentenced to...
In Tehran, five young taxi-drivers were sentenced to death for raping a young woman, newspapers reported
- OCTOBER 11, 2002ArizonaDEATH PENALTY
Misconduct by a top Pima County prosecutor prompted...
Misconduct by a top Pima County prosecutor prompted the Arizona Supreme Court to overturn the conviction and death sentence of a Tucson man accused of gunning down three people in the El Grande Market slayings
- OCTOBER 11, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
A former senior member of the Japanese doomsday cult...
A former senior member of the Japanese doomsday cult which carried out a nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 was sentenced to death