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
- 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
- MARCH 14, 1999KyrgyzstanDEATH PENALTY
On March 14, a court sentenced Pavel Gorobets to death...
On March 14, a court sentenced Pavel Gorobets to death for murdering and dismembering one of his tenants, Viktor Grekhovodov, in December 1997, and his girlfriend Valentina Kashina, in March 1998 before eating their flesh
- MARCH 11, 1999RwandaDEATH PENALTY
On March 11, a military court in Rwanda upheld the...
On March 11, a military court in Rwanda upheld the death penalty on Pierre Bizimana, an officer in the former Rwandan army, and Martin Kageruka, a doctor, for the murder of Queen Rosalia Gicanda and her family, as well as other genocidal crimes in July 19
- MARCH 1, 1999LebanonDEATH PENALTY
In March, Jean Yusuf Chahin, who arrrived in Australia...
In March, Jean Yusuf Chahin, who arrrived in Australia two years ago on a holiday visa and has applied for residency in Australia as a refugee, was sentenced to death for 9 alleged assassinations and the bombing of a church in Lebanon
- JANUARY 28, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On January 28, Yibulayin Simayi, 42, and Abudureyimu...
On January 28, Yibulayin Simayi, 42, and Abudureyimu Aisha, 29, were executed after a public sentencing by the Yili Prefecture Intermediate People's Court
- JANUARY 26, 1999Trinidad & TobagoDEATH PENALTY
On January 26, the Privy Council ruled on constitutional...
On January 26, the Privy Council ruled on constitutional motions brought by Darrin Roger Thomas and Haniff Hilaire, who were both under sentence of death in Trinidad and Tobago, stating "that to carry out the death sentences imposed on the men before the
- JANUARY 25, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On January 25, the No
On January 25, the No
- JANUARY 15, 1999BotswanaDEATH PENALTY
On January 15, Gwara Brown Motswetla, 28, and Tlhabologang...
On January 15, Gwara Brown Motswetla, 28, and Tlhabologang Phetolo Maauwe, 30, two men condemned to death in 1995, won an eleventh hour stay of execution because Justice Reynolds in an interim ruling said that the 4-year delay in carrying out the sentence
- JANUARY 12, 1999MaliDEATH PENALTY
On January 12, the Bamako Criminal Court ruled that...
On January 12, the Bamako Criminal Court ruled that Mali's ousted dictator, Moussa Traorè, his wife Mariam and her brother Abramane Doua Cissoko were guilty of illegally enriching themselves from state coffers to the tune of 202 million CFA francs ($357,5
- JANUARY 5, 1999TajikistanDEATH PENALTY
On January 5, the Supreme Court sentenced former military...
On January 5, the Supreme Court sentenced former military officer Sharif Sharipov to death by shooting after finding him guilty of organizing a terrorist group and the premeditated murder of dozens of people