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
- MAY 25, 2001CaliforniaDEATH PENALTY
Leon Chauncey Cooper, 40, who was convicted of raping...
Leon Chauncey Cooper, 40, who was convicted of raping and murdering on March 26, 1998, his stepdaughter LaRhonda Johnson, 15, will be executed
- MAY 22, 2001UzbekistanDEATH PENALTY
The Tashkent City Court sentenced two men to death...
The Tashkent City Court sentenced two men to death for murder and robbery
- MAY 21, 2001LibyaDEATH PENALTY
A Tripoli court sentenced seven people to death for...
A Tripoli court sentenced seven people to death for their involvement in last year's bloody riots that Libyan officials said were part of a plot aimed at derailing Muammar Gaddafi's African unity drive
- MAY 21, 2001QatarDEATH PENALTY
A Qatar appeals court condemned to death Sheikh Hamad...
A Qatar appeals court condemned to death Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Hamad Al Thanin, a cousin of the country's emir, and 18 other defendants for their role in a foiled 1996 coup, overturning a lower court ruling giving the plotters life sentences
- MAY 20, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Eight people were sentenced to death in Guizhou province...
Eight people were sentenced to death in Guizhou province for abducting and selling 42 children
- MAY 20, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Liaoning judicial organs openly tried 38 criminal...
The Liaoning judicial organs openly tried 38 criminal cases in nine cities and executed a number of suspects
- MAY 18, 2001IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
Two convicts sentenced to death for murder were executed...
Two convicts sentenced to death for murder were executed at midnight after their request for a presidential pardon was rejected
- MAY 17, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court sentenced Kaoru Okashita, 54,...
The Tokyo High Court sentenced Kaoru Okashita, 54, a former real estate broker, to death for murdering Ume Endo, 82, an apartment owner, in Tokyo on October 1, 1989, after swindling her out of land by forging a sales contract
- MAY 17, 2001FloridaDEATH PENALTY
Circuit Judge Peter Dearing sentenced to death James...
Circuit Judge Peter Dearing sentenced to death James Belcher, 41, for the 1996 death of 29-year-old Jennifer Embry
- MAY 14, 2001IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
A man who specialized in car thefts was sentenced to...
A man who specialized in car thefts was sentenced to death by Purwokerto District Court for murdering a lawyer in March
- MAY 14, 2001South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court imposed a death sentence on a 31-year-old...
The Supreme Court imposed a death sentence on a 31-year-old man convicted of murdering his lover and her husband in a plan to get insurance money
- MAY 8, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three robbers who sacked 34 temples when disguised...
Three robbers who sacked 34 temples when disguised as police were sentenced to death in southern Fujian Province by the Higher People's Court of Fujian
- MAY 8, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A man was sentenced to death by a Guangzhou court as...
A man was sentenced to death by a Guangzhou court as the ringleader of a gang that kidnapped 27 women and sold them as "wives" to peasants, the Procuratorial Daily said
- MAY 7, 2001OmanDEATH PENALTY
An Omani court sentenced two [unidentified] Pakistani...
An Omani court sentenced two [unidentified] Pakistani men to death for smuggling one tonne of hashish into the Gulf Arab state
- MAY 7, 2001PakistanDEATH PENALTY
An Omani court sentenced two [unidentified] Pakistani...
An Omani court sentenced two [unidentified] Pakistani men to death for smuggling one tonne of hashish into the Gulf Arab state
- MAY 6, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Chaozhou Intermediate People's Court gave the death...
The Chaozhou Intermediate People's Court gave the death sentence to Huang Minghong and Ruan Junxian, in an open trial
- MAY 5, 2001RomaniaDEATH PENALTY
Authorities in Moldova's separatist Dnestr region unexpectedly...
Authorities in Moldova's separatist Dnestr region unexpectedly freed a Romanian member of parliament after nine years on 'death row'
- MAY 5, 2001MoldovaDEATH PENALTY
Authorities in Moldova's separatist Dnestr region unexpectedly...
Authorities in Moldova's separatist Dnestr region unexpectedly freed a Romanian member of parliament after nine years on 'death row'
- APRIL 30, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The Islamic Shari'ah Court convicted Saudi national...
The Islamic Shari'ah Court convicted Saudi national Humud Bin-Fahd Bin-Salim al-Naturi of murdering his compatriot Turki Bin-abd-al-Rahman Bin-Mihda al-Shamri
- APRIL 28, 2001VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Five men were sentenced to death by a southern Vietnam...
Five men were sentenced to death by a southern Vietnam court in a trial of nine people accused of drug trafficking from Laos (2
- APRIL 27, 2001SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
A Singapore man was sentenced to death for trafficking...
A Singapore man was sentenced to death for trafficking two kilograms of cannabis
- APRIL 27, 2001Central African RepublicDEATH PENALTY
The Central African Criminal Court sentenced to death...
The Central African Criminal Court sentenced to death Ngoakossi Juvenal, a private detective, and Mafouta Jeannot, a former senior corporal in the army, for the killing and carjacking of the Libyan Ambassador in August 2000
- APRIL 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Li Guang, Mu Jiangqiao and Zhang Yunsong were sentenced...
Li Guang, Mu Jiangqiao and Zhang Yunsong were sentenced to death in south-west China's Yunnan Province
- APRIL 24, 2001IllinoisDEATH PENALTY
A Cook County jury sentenced to death Samuel Karim,...
A Cook County jury sentenced to death Samuel Karim, 24, for killling (on March 18, 1996) Melvin Harris, 37, and Jamar Parker, 22
- APRIL 24, 2001TajikistanDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court sentenced two drug dealers, Islom...
The Supreme Court sentenced two drug dealers, Islom Kadirov and Kutbiddin Zaripov, to death
- APRIL 24, 2001LebanonDEATH PENALTY
A Beirut criminal court sentenced Hassan Khalil Ahmad,...
A Beirut criminal court sentenced Hassan Khalil Ahmad, a Sudanese man, to death after finding him guilty of murdering and robbing an Eritrean man in Beirut two years ago
- APRIL 23, 2001CaliforniaDEATH PENALTY
John Myles was sentenced to death for the April 11,...
John Myles was sentenced to death for the April 11, 1996, shooting of Harry Byrd, 19
- APRIL 21, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In public trials, Chinese courts in Chongqing Municipality...
In public trials, Chinese courts in Chongqing Municipality and Hunan Province sentenced 14 criminals to death with their political rights deprived of for life
- APRIL 20, 2001GuineaDEATH PENALTY
Three young people convicted of armed robbery and other...
Three young people convicted of armed robbery and other crimes were shot on Kassa island, close to the capital Conkary
- APRIL 18, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court sentenced...
The Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court sentenced to death Jin Ruchao for bombings in Hebei province that killed 108 people in March