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
AUGUST 3, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER PARTY CHIEF OF HANGZHOU SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH TWO-YEAR REPRIEVE FOR BRIBERY
Zhou Jiangyong, former Party chief of Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province, was sentenced on July 25, 2023 to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery.
AUGUST 3, 2023MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: TWO FOREIGNERS WERE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF GRAB DRIVER
Two foreigners were sentenced to death by the High Court in Shah Alam on July 28, 2023 after they were found guilty of the murder of a local Grab driver five years ago.
- AUGUST 2, 2023Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
DRC: THE SOLDIER RESPONSIBLE FOR A FAMILY MASSACRE SENTENCED TO DEATH
A soldier was sentenced to death on July 26, 2023 for a family massacre that killed 13 people on July 22 in Ituri, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
AUGUST 2, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 4 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING MAN 22 YEARS AGO
A Syllhet Divisional Special Judge Court on July 24, 2023 sentenced four people to death for killing a man in Gowainghat upazila in Sylhet 22 years ago.
AUGUST 1, 2023IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: SUSPECTED DRUG DEALER SENTENCED TO DEATH
An Iraqi court on July 25, 2023 issued the death sentence for a suspected drug dealer, reported state media.
JULY 27, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 4 SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER 'WAR CRIMES'
A local court in Bangladesh, formed to try "war criminals," on July 20, 2023 delivered death sentences to four men for their alleged involvement in crimes against humanity during the Bangladesh independence war in 1971.
JULY 26, 2023SingaporeDEATH PENALTYSINGAPORE: MAN HANGED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING, A WOMAN SET TO BE EXECUTED THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, a 56-years-old Singaporean Malay man, was hanged on July 26, 2023 at dawn at Changi Prison in Singapore.
JULY 25, 2023Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: TWO SAUDI NATIONALS EXECUTED FOR KILLING PARENTS, SIBLINGS
Two Saudi nationals were executed on July 24, 2023 in Mecca for killing their parents and siblings, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Interior said.
- JULY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN: POLITICAL PRISONER MOHAMMAD JAVAD VAFA’I THANI SENTENCED TO DEATH
A judge at Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad, capital of the northeastern Razavi Khorasan Province, on July 19, 2023 sentenced to death Mohammad Javad Vafa’i Thani.
JULY 20, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: THREE GET DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING TRADER IN GOPALGANJ
Three persons on July 10, 2023 were awarded with death penalty for killing a trader named Lutfor Rahman in Tungipara of Gopalganj.
JULY 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Abbas Deris at Grave Risk of Execution
One of the participants in the November 2019 protests over the price of gasoline
JULY 20, 2023MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: RELIEF FOR KENYAN WOMAN FACING DEATH SENTENCE
The Court of Appeal in Malaysia on July 20, 2023 handed a Kenyan woman a lesser sentencing after reviewing her case in which she was found guilty of trafficking drugs and other illegal substances.
JULY 19, 2023ZimbabweDEATH PENALTYZIMBABWE: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF CHILD
A Zimbabwean High Court Judge on July 12, 2023 sentenced two convicted murderers to death for the killing of a 7-year-old boy, Tapiwa Makore, three years ago in the country’s Mashonaland East Province in rural Murewa area.
JULY 19, 2023DEATH PENALTYUSA - Georgia. Demarcus Sears Wins Sentencing Redo
JULY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad-Javad Vafaie Sani sentenced to death
Political prisoner
JULY 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Amad Moghadam and Saeed Almasi executed on 18 July in Hamadan
- JULY 17, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: BOYFRIEND, PASTOR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR THE MURDER OF LASU STUDENT
An Osun State High Court, sitting in Ikire, on July 17, 2023 sentenced a Pastor, Philip Segun, 42-year-old and Owolabi Adeeko, 23-year-old to death for the murder of one Favour Daley Oladele.
- JULY 13, 2023KenyaDEATH PENALTY
KENYA: DEATH ROW SUSPECT SET FREE OVER GIRLFRIEND'S CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE
Kenya Court of Appeal on July 7, 2023 granted the appeal of a man who had been sentenced to death for armed robbery.
JULY 12, 2023KenyaDEATH PENALTYKENYA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR TWO MEN WHO VIOLENTLY ROBBED WOMAN
An Eldoret Court on July 5, 2023 sentenced to death two men for the offence of robbery with violence.
JULY 12, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: THREE BROTHERS GET DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING FATHER
A Cumilla court has sentenced three brothers to death penalty for beating their father to death at Monohorganj of the district. They were also fined Tk 20,000 each.
JULY 11, 2023LaosDEATH PENALTYLAOS: WEAK LAWS MEAN DEATH-ROW INMATES WON’T FACE EXECUTION ANYTIME SOON
More than 500 prison inmates have been sentenced to death in Laos – some more than a decade ago – but the country’s dysfunctional legal system and unclear prison procedures have left the inmates languishing for years, the country’s minister of public secu
JULY 11, 2023CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - California. Leslie Van Houten, follower of Charles Manson, released from prison
JULY 10, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 2001 MURDER OF GARDENER IN DHAKA
A Dhaka court has handed down the death sentence to two people in a decades-old case over the murder of a nursery gardener in Dhaka's Cantonment area.
- JULY 9, 2023Sri LankaDEATH PENALTY
SRI LANKA: NIGERIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
A Nigerian national who was found guilty for possession and trafficking 249.19g of Cocaine on July 6, 2023 was sentenced to death by the Colombo High Court.
JULY 8, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Ramez Rashidi and Naeem Hashem Ghotali hanged in public on July 8
Afghan citizens charged with terrorism
JULY 6, 2023JordanDEATH PENALTYJORDAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF RELATIVE
The Court of Cassation has upheld a June 2022 Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to death after he was convicted of murdering a 69-year-old relative in June 2021, The Jordan Times reported on July 5, 2023.
JULY 6, 2023LouisianaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Louisiana. Brian Horn sentenced to death
- JULY 4, 2023JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN: SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN OVER MURDERS
The Japanese Supreme Court on July 3, 2023 upheld the death sentence for a man convicted over the deaths of three people, scrapping his appeal to finalize the ultimate penalty handed down to him in earlier district and high court rulings.
- JULY 2, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: WIFE KILLER SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SHANGHAI
A man who killed his wife and then attempted to hide her body in a freezer in Shanghai was sentenced to death on June 29, 2023.
JUNE 29, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING, KILLING 8-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN UP’S AURAIYA
A local court on June 28, 2023 awarded the death sentence to a man for raping and killing an eight-year-old girl in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh in March this year.