Death sentences
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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
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH: 5 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER IN CTG
A Chattogram court on August 28, 2023 sentenced five people to death for killing a schoolgirl after rape in Sandwip in 2015.
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2023Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTY
MYANMAR: JUNTA SENTENCES 4 MEN TO DEATH IN AYEYARWADY REGION
Four men from Ayeyarwady region’s Bogale township have been given the death penalty for murdering a suspected military informer, residents told RFA on September 14, 2023.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: ODISHA MAN AWARDED DEATH PENALTY, SON GETS LIFE TERM FOR TRIPLE-MURDER
A man was sentenced to death by a court in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on August 9, 2023 in a triple murder case.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2023FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Jury recommends the death penalty for Michael Hunt
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH: FOUR INCLUDING WIFE GET DEATH IN EXPATRIATE MURDER
A court in Cumilla on August 30, 2023 sentenced four people, including a woman, to death for the murder of her expatriate husband in Chandina upazila.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: FOUR MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BLASPHEMY
A Pakistani court on September 4, 2023 sentenced four individuals to death for committing blasphemy by sharing content deemed to be insulting to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and the Holy Qur’an.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: NIA COURT AWARDS DEATH PENALTY TO TWO ISIS-LINKED MEN WHO MURDERED RETIRED SCHOOL PRINCIPAL IN UP
An NIA Special Court in Lucknow on September 14, 2023 awarded death penalty to Atif Muzaffar and Mohammed Faisal Khan who were held guilty of murdering retired school principal Ram Babu Shukla in Kanpur with the motive of advancing their ISIS agenda by in
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH: MAN GETS DEATH FOR BURNING WIFE TO DEATH
A court in Jamalpur, Bangladesh, on August 17, 2023 awarded a man death sentence for burning his wife to death in Dewanganj upazila.
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH: 3 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING EASY-BIKE DRIVER
A court in Bangladesh on August 30, 2023 sentenced three people to death for killing an easybike driver in Damurhuda upazila of Chuadanga.
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR CRITICIZING GOVERNMENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Saudi Arabia has sentenced to death a government critic who denounced alleged corruption and human rights abuses on social media, his brother and others familiar with the case told AFP on August 28, 2023.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2023FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Jury recommends death for Joshua McClellan
AUGUST 24, 2023MississippiDEATH PENALTYUSA - Mississippi. Howard M. Neal resentenced to life WITH parole
Former death row inmate
AUGUST 23, 2023MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: COUPLE'S DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED TO 40 YEARS JAIL FOR MURDERING DAUGHTER
A married couple escaped the gallows in Malaysia after the Court of Appeal on August 23, 2023 commuted their death sentence to a maximum jail sentence of 40 years for murdering their daughter.
AUGUST 21, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men executed in Zahedan on August 21
Abdolsamad Khadem, Yaghoub Ejbari, Mohammad Anwar Barahouyi, Esmail Ghanbarzehi and 'Mir'
- AUGUST 18, 2023Trinidad & TobagoDEATH PENALTY
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: FOUR CONVICTED KILLERS REMOVED FROM DEATH ROW
Four convicted killers housed in the condemned section of the Port of Spain prison at Frederick Street for decades have had their death sentences vacated
AUGUST 14, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE IN SYLHET
A Sylhet court on August 6, 2023 sentenced a man to death and fined him Tk10,000 for killing his wife in Gowainghat upazila of the district in 2021.
AUGUST 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed on August 13
Abdul Ghani Arbabi, Hamed Jamshidi + Unk
AUGUST 10, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Barahouyi and Ahmad Narouyi executed in Mashhad on August 10
AUGUST 10, 2023GhanaDEATH PENALTYGHANA: FATHER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR OFFERING SON AS SACRIFICE
An Accra High Court has sentenced to death a 33-year-old man for throwing his two-year-old son into the sea at Akuma Village, Accra, as sacrifice in his bid to become rich, Ghana News Agency reported on August 10, 2023.
AUGUST 9, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH FOR KILLING NEIGHBOUR IN KWARA
Justice S. M. Akanbi of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on July 31, 2023 sentenced one Mohammed Kazeem Beiwa to death for the murder of his neighbour identified as Olokose Ojo Olushola in Ilorin a few days before his wedding in 2021.
AUGUST 9, 2023OhioDEATH PENALTYUSA - Ohio. Caron Montgomery taken off death row
AUGUST 9, 2023TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. Facundo Chavez, 32, Hispanic, sentenced to death
- AUGUST 8, 2023Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
DRC: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING YOUNG GIRL
A Congolese woman on August 5, 2023 was sentenced to death for the murder of a girl whose mutilated body was found near a river in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
AUGUST 8, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MURDER ACCUSED AWARDED DEATH SENTENCE
Additional Session Judge Rehmat Ali awarded the death penalty to an accused of murder case in Multan on July 21, 2023.
AUGUST 8, 2023GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Germany Intensifies Efforts To Release Jamshid Sharmahd
AUGUST 7, 2023Palestinian TerritoriesDEATH PENALTYGAZA: 7 PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH BY HANGING FOR ‘COLLABORATION’ WITH ISRAEL
A military court in the Gaza Strip on August 6, 2023 sentenced seven people to death by hanging for “collaboration” with Israel, the coastal enclave’s Hamas-run interior ministry said.
AUGUST 7, 2023MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: TWO TO HANG FOR KILLING SIBU SENIOR CITIZEN TO GET DRUG MONEY
Two men were sentenced to the gallows by the Sibu High Court on July 31, 2023 for robbing and murdering a senior citizen for money to buy drugs.
AUGUST 7, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE, MURDER OF TWO-YEAR-OLD GIRL
A court in Gujarat’s Surat city on August 2, 2023 awarded death sentence to a 23-year-old man for the rape and murder of a two-year-old girl in February.
AUGUST 6, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified man executed in Dezful on August 6
AUGUST 4, 2023FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. James Phillip Barnes, 61, White, was executed
On August 4