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 24, 2023Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
DRC: KENYAN FUGITIVE HANDED DEATH SENTENCE
A Court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has sentenced Kenyan terror suspect Salim Mohammed, alias Chotora, to death.
MAY 23, 2023VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: KOREAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING COMPATRIOT AND CUTTING UP BODY
HCMC People's Court sentenced a South Korean businessman to death on May 19, 2023 for murdering a countryman over an unpaid debt before cutting his body into pieces.
MAY 19, 2023AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Joseph Clifton Smith cannot be executed due to intellectual disability
MAY 19, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi executed in Isfahan on 19 May
Accused of a 'political' crime
MAY 18, 2023ThailandDEATH PENALTYTHAILAND: MAYOR SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER LAND ACTIVIST’S MURDER
The Lower Court sentenced the former Mayor of Wang Wiset district to the death penalty on May 17, 2023 over the murder of a lawyer and land rights activist in Trang province, southern Thailand, two years ago.
MAY 18, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING FATHER
A Pakistani District and Sessions Court on May 17, 2023 awarded death sentence to an accused involved in the murder of his father.
MAY 17, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: THREE MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ARMED ROBBERY IN EKITI
The Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti, on May 15, 2023 sentenced three men to death by hanging for conspiracy and armed robbery in the state.
MAY 15, 2023ZimbabweDEATH PENALTYZIMBABWE: MNANGAGWA GRANTS AMNESTY TO THOUSANDS OF NON-VIOLENT INMATES
An amnesty has been granted to thousands of prisoners serving time for non-violent offences with President Emmerson Mnangagwa exercising executive clemency to release inmates who had served at least one third of their jail term
MAY 14, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: THREE MEN GET DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDER OF JABALPUR COUPLE
A court in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur has sentenced three men to death for killing a couple living next door in the city in 2021, terming the offence as "rarest of the rare".
- MAY 11, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran - Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentences of Three Protesters
Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi
MAY 8, 2023IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: COURT ORDERS THE DEATH PENALTY FOR A POLICEMAN WHO KILLED A GOVERNMENT ADVISOR
An Iraqi court on May 7, 2023 issued a death sentence for a policeman after he was found guilty of leading a group that shot dead the well-known analyst and government advisor Hisham al-Hashimi three years ago in Baghdad.
MAY 7, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 6 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING SCHOOL TEACHER IN CUMILLA
A Cumilla court on May 2, 2023 sentenced six people to death in the case of the murder of college teacher Sujon in Barpara area of the city in 2010, besides, each was fined 10,000 taka.
MAY 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jalaladdin Rahimian-Azar executed in Rasht on May 4
- MAY 3, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 82-YEAR-OLD GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR 2008 'MASS MURDERS' IN RAJASTHAN'S DHOLPUR
An SC/ST court in Dholpur district on April 25, 2023 sentenced an 82- year-old man in a 15-year-old case of shooting four MGNREGS workers to death.
MAY 3, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: THREE GET DEATH IN TRANSPORT LEADER MURDER
A court in Cumilla on April 12, 2023 sentenced three people to death in the murder case of transport leader Rezaul Karim, due to extramarital love.
MAY 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hassan Zarei and Lal Mohammad Shirzayi Barahouyi executed in Minab on May 3
- MAY 2, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mousa and Ehsan Gorgij executed in Bandarabbas on May 2
MAY 2, 2023GhanaDEATH PENALTYGHANA: ASABKE ALANDI SENTENCED TO DEATH BY HANGING FOR ADAMS MAHAMA’S MURDER
An Accra High Court has sentenced to death Asabke Alandgi, one of two persons accused of the murder of Adams Mahama, a former Upper East Regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Pulse reported on 28 April 2023.
APRIL 27, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: SHC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE INTO LIFE TERM IN TRIPLE MURDER CASE
The Sindh High Court on April 17, 2023 commuted the death sentence handed down to a man into life imprisonment in a triple murder case.
APRIL 26, 2023AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Steven Mulkey sentenced to death
APRIL 26, 2023YemenDEATH PENALTYYEMEN: FOUR JOURNALISTS ON DEATH ROW RELEASED IN PRISONER EXCHANGE
Journalists Tawfiq Al-Mansoori, Abdul Khaleq Amran, Akram Al-Waleedi and Hareth Humaid, who had been sentenced to death for their journalistic work, have been released as part of a prisoner exchange on 16 April 2023, they had spent eight years behind bars
APRIL 23, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR PLOUGHING CAR INTO PEDESTRIANS, KILLING 5
A driver who killed five and injured 13 others by ploughing his car into pedestrians in China in January has been sentenced to death, a Guangzhou court said on April 18, 2023.
APRIL 20, 2023IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: 8 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ISIS ACTIVITY IN JAIL
A court in Baghdad on 18 April 2023 sentenced eight people to death for attempting to organize the Islamic State (ISIS) in prison.
APRIL 20, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: 3298 INMATES ON DEATH ROW - GOVERNORS HESITANT TO SIGN DEATH WARRANTS (NCOS)
The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) says 3,298 inmates across custodial centres in Nigeria are on death row.
APRIL 19, 2023Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: 151 CIVILIANS SENTENCED TO DEATH SINCE COUP, SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
Myanmar’s military regime has sentenced 151 civilians to death during the two-plus years since the coup in February 2021, according to an April 11 press release from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
APRIL 18, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: SINDH HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE IN DOUBLE MURDER CASE
The Sindh High Court on April 5, 2023 upheld the death sentence handed down to a man by the trial court in a double murder case.
APRIL 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Nayeb Askari sentences to death for second time
Kurdish political prisoner
APRIL 17, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAHARASHTRA MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING 5 FAMILY MEMBERS
A court in Maharashtra's Nagpur on April 15, 2023 sentenced a man to death for killing five members of his family over a property dispute.
APRIL 17, 2023IndonesiaDEATH PENALTYINDONESIA: PRESIDENT GRANTS ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ CLEMENCY TO DEATH ROW DRUG CONVICT
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has granted clemency to a woman who spent more than 20 years on death row for drug smuggling, the convict’s lawyer said on 14 April, 2023.
APRIL 13, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING HIS MINOR DAUGHTER
A man was sentenced to death in Pakistan on April 7, 2023 for raping his minor daughter in the country's Punjab province.