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 15, 1999EthiopiaDEATH PENALTY
On November 15, the second criminal bench of the Federal...
On November 15, the second criminal bench of the Federal High Court sentenced second Lt
- NOVEMBER 11, 1999AfghanistanDEATH PENALTY
On November 11, Ala Rahman was publicly executed in...
On November 11, Ala Rahman was publicly executed in Laghman Province for murder by the heir of his victim
- NOVEMBER 8, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On November 8, Sun Yanbiao, the deputy mayor of the...
On November 8, Sun Yanbiao, the deputy mayor of the southern city of Ningbo from 1993 to 1998 was sentenced to death for taking bribes
- NOVEMBER 4, 1999ThailandDEATH PENALTY
On November 4, the High Court sentenced to death Helen...
On November 4, the High Court sentenced to death Helen Ayoromi, 30, a businesswoman from the Republic of Benin
- OCTOBER 7, 1999GuatemalaDEATH PENALTY
On October 7, a Guatemalan court sentenced Carlos Chen,...
On October 7, a Guatemalan court sentenced Carlos Chen, Pedro Gonzalez and Fermin Lajuj, 3 former right-wing paramilitaries, to death for the killing of 2 women in the Rio Negro village massacre, some 40 miles north of the capital, in which 70 women and 1
- OCTOBER 1, 1999Sri LankaDEATH PENALTY
In October, security has been tightened in the country's...
In October, security has been tightened in the country's two main jails amid signs of unrest among the prisoners sentenced to be executed by hanging, following earlier announcements that the death penalty would be carried out in future
- SEPTEMBER 24, 1999ThailandDEATH PENALTY
On September 24, Visanu Chokthavee Sarp, 42, a Thai...
On September 24, Visanu Chokthavee Sarp, 42, a Thai businessman convicted of cheating a state firm of about US$176,000 assets by the Vietnamese Appeal Court on July 2, had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment following intervention by the Thai
- SEPTEMBER 20, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On September 20, Yili Prefectural Intermediate People's...
On September 20, Yili Prefectural Intermediate People's Court held a public trial in Yining County to pass judgment on 22 terrorists guilty of "violent terrorist activities
- SEPTEMBER 17, 1999ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
On September 17, Captain Stephen Lungu alias Captain...
On September 17, Captain Stephen Lungu alias Captain Solo was sentenced to death together with 58 soldiers for plotting and executing the October 28, 1997 coup against President Frederick Chiluba's Government
- SEPTEMBER 10, 1999KazakhstanDEATH PENALTY
On September 10, the Atana City Court passed the death...
On September 10, the Atana City Court passed the death penalty on Martynov and Melnikov
- SEPTEMBER 8, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On September 8, the Jiangxi Provincial Higher People's...
On September 8, the Jiangxi Provincial Higher People's Court gave its final judgment on the case of the wounding of the leading cadres of Jiangxi's Anyi County which shocked the whole country
- AUGUST 11, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
On August 11, Prime Minister P
On August 11, Prime Minister P
- JULY 28, 1999BurundiDEATH PENALTY
On 28 July, Corporal Bonaventura Ndikumana was reportedly...
On 28 July, Corporal Bonaventura Ndikumana was reportedly executed after being sentenced to death by the Bujumbura Military Court on July 21 for murdering an officer in the Mabanda military camp
- JULY 28, 1999LibyaDEATH PENALTY
On July 28, on Col
On July 28, on Col
- JULY 3, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On July 3, 4 people were given death sentences for...
On July 3, 4 people were given death sentences for being members of a smuggling ring that sold thousands of skins and parts of endangered tigers, leopards, snakes and other animals through the post
- JULY 1, 1999MalawiDEATH PENALTY
In July, Malawi's Ombudsman and Human Rights Commissioner...
In July, Malawi's Ombudsman and Human Rights Commissioner Enock Chibwana visited one of the prisons in the country where he found prisoners in a horrible state after having been held for long periods without even the knowledge of the Justice Ministry
- JUNE 28, 1999UzbekistanDEATH PENALTY
On June 28, the Republic's Supreme Court completed...
On June 28, the Republic's Supreme Court completed proceedings, which started on June 2, on the criminal cases of 22 citizens involved in the act of terrorism carried out in Tashkent in 1999
- JUNE 23, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On June 23, Ocalan was sentenced to death
On June 23, Ocalan was sentenced to death
- JUNE 21, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 21, a Chinese court sentenced Liu Jia-guo,...
On June 21, a Chinese court sentenced Liu Jia-guo, 34,the leader of Christian sect to death for swindling fellow sect members
- JUNE 1, 1999YemenDEATH PENALTY
In June, a man sentenced to death for a double homicide...
In June, a man sentenced to death for a double homicide was publicly shot and then crucified in a square in the town of Taiz, in the north of the country, the newspaper Al Thawra reported, specifying that the body was bound to a cross and placed where the
- MAY 13, 1999PakistanDEATH PENALTY
On May 13, Mohammed Saleem was re-arrested for the...
On May 13, Mohammed Saleem was re-arrested for the same crime for which he had been condemned to death in December 1998 and subsequently released in January 1999
- MAY 8, 1999FloridaDEATH PENALTY
On May 8, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in the...
On May 8, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in the case of Keith Brennan that the execution of a defendant who was 16 years old at the time of his crime would be unconstitutional
- MAY 1, 1999Trinidad & TobagoDEATH PENALTY
In May, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council...
In May, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council refused to grant petitioners, Nankissoon Boodram, also called Dole Chadee, and 8 others, special leave to appeal the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Trinidad and Tobago on May 16, 1999, upholding the
- APRIL 27, 1999KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
On April 27, a court sentenced 2 Iranians, Abdallah...
On April 27, a court sentenced 2 Iranians, Abdallah Abdel-Amir Nassari and Saed Mohsen Razij, to death for drug smuggling, while 3 others received life sentences
- APRIL 19, 1999CanadaDEATH PENALTY
On April 19, Justice Minister Anne McLellan said that...
On April 19, Justice Minister Anne McLellan said that the European Union's resolution being debated at the Commission on Human Rights would, if passed, make Canada a safe haven for killers
- APRIL 18, 1999EgyptDEATH PENALTY
On April 18, in Heikstep, an Egyptian military court...
On April 18, in Heikstep, an Egyptian military court sentenced to death 9 of 107 defendants in the biggest trial of Muslim militants since those which followed the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat
- APRIL 10, 1999IranDEATH PENALTY
On April 10, a German citizen Helmut Hofer, a 57-year-old...
On April 10, a German citizen Helmut Hofer, a 57-year-old businessman, was released on bail from an Iranian prison
- APRIL 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In April, a court sentenced restaurant owner Chi Jianguo...
In April, a court sentenced restaurant owner Chi Jianguo to death for poisoning the donkey soup at a nearby rival's eatery and making 148 people ill
- MARCH 26, 1999TajikistanDEATH PENALTY
On March 26, the Supreme Court sentenced Mizomuddin...
On March 26, the Supreme Court sentenced Mizomuddin Valiyev, Saidrakhmon Davuvoz and Yakub Darveshev to death by firing squad
- MARCH 15, 1999JordanDEATH PENALTY
On March 15, a military tribunal sentenced to death...
On March 15, a military tribunal sentenced to death by hanging Mohammad Jaghameen, 35, and Ahmad Subuh, 34, who remains a fugitive, for a killing spree that left more than 10 people dead in 1998