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
- APRIL 12, 2023FloridaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Florida. Louis Gaskin, 56, Black, executed on April 12
APRIL 12, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: BIHAR GANGSTER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR COURT BLAST
A court in Bihar's Arrah on April 5, 2023 sentenced dreaded gangster Lambu Sharma to death for the 2019 bomb explosion in the district court that killed two people, including the woman tasked with planting it.
APRIL 11, 2023SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: 14 AL-SHABAAB MILITANTS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN PUNTLAND
A military court in Puntland on 8 April 2023 sentenced 14 members of the militant group Al-Shabaab, to death.
APRIL 7, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Protester Mojahed Kourkour Sentenced to Death
Cover-up for the state killing of 10 years-old boy Kian Pirfalak
APRIL 6, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: SIX SENTENCED TO DEATH, FOUR JAILED OVER RAPE OF COLLEGE STUDENT IN NATORE
A Natore court on April 5, 2023 sentenced six people to death and four others to life in prison in a case over the gang-rape of a college student after abduction in the district’s Singra Upazila.
APRIL 5, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH BY HANGING IN JIGAWA
Three men have been handed a death sentence by a Jigawa State High Court, No. 8 sitting in Kaugama Local Government Area on March 31, 2023, for armed robbery and murder.
APRIL 4, 2023Palestinian TerritoriesDEATH PENALTYGAZA: HAMAS SENTENCES TWO GAZANS TO DEATH FOR ISRAEL 'COLLABORATION'
A military court in the Gaza Strip convicted on 3 April 2023 six people of "collaboration" with Israel, sentencing two of them to death.
APRIL 4, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - IHR Report on 200 Days of Protest Repression
List of at Risk Protesters
MARCH 31, 2023FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Former death row inmate J.B. Parker to serve life term
MARCH 30, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH BY LARKANA COURT FOR KILLING POLICEMAN
The Model Criminal Trial Court, Larkana, on 29 March 2023 awarded death sentence to three suspects and imposed on them Rs1,500,000 fine each after finding them guilty of killing a police constable Nadeem Lashari over a land dispute.
MARCH 30, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: DOMESTIC STAFF SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING GRANDMA, DAUGHTER
A domestic staff, Joseph Ogbu, was sentenced to death by hanging on 27 March 2023 for killing his employer, an 89-year-old grandmother, Ajoke, and her daughter, Oreoluwa, in their home in Lagos.
MARCH 29, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING STEP-BROTHERS
A court in Cumilla sentenced a man to death on 27 March 2023 for the murder of his two step brothers in 2016 in the district’s Sadar Dakshin upazila.
MARCH 29, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 4 MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 2008 JAIPUR SERIAL BLASTS ACQUITTED BY HIGH COURT
The Rajasthan high court on 29 March 2023 acquitted four men sentenced to death by a trial court for nine blasts that went off in Jaipur in May 2008, killing 71 people and injuring over 170.
MARCH 28, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: SUPREME COURT RELEASES DEATH ROW PRISONER AFTER 28 YEARS ON FINDING HIM TO BE A JUVENILE AT THE TIME OF OFFENCE
The Supreme Court on 27 March 2023 released a death row convict upon finding that even though he was a juvenile at the time of the commission of the offence he was tried as an adult and was sentenced to death.
- MARCH 27, 2023United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
ISRAELI SENTENCED TO DEATH IN UAE RETURNS HOME
Fida Kiwan, a Haifa native who was sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates for drug trafficking, was pardoned by the UAE and given leave to return home, according to a March 25, 2023 Walla! report.
MARCH 27, 2023SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: MILITARY COURT IN PUNTLAND SENTENCES 10 AL-SHABAAB CONVICTS TO DEATH
The Puntland Armed Forces Court on 26 March 2023 sentenced ten members of Al-Shabaab to death after they were found guilty of carrying out a series of bombings and assassinations in Puntland state, and for being members of the Al-Shabaab network.
MARCH 27, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE OVER BLASPHEMOUS CONTENT ON WHATSAPP
A Muslim man in Pakistan has been awarded a death sentence over blasphemous content on a WhatsApp group.
MARCH 23, 2023IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER ACTIVIST’S ABDUCTION
An Iraqi court has sentenced two men to death in absentia for the 2020 kidnapping and disappearance of an anti-government activist, the judiciary on March 22, 2023 said.
MARCH 23, 2023TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR MALAYSIAN STUDENT'S KILLER
The Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court on March 23, 2023 upheld the death sentence of a man who raped and murdered a Malaysian student of Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan in October 2020.
- MARCH 22, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - A woman and four men sentenced to death for spying for Israel
Nasim Namazi, Wafa Hanareh, Aram Omari Bardiani, Rahman Parhazo and Mansour Rasouli
MARCH 21, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 23 GET DEATH PENALTY FOR RAJIB MURDER IN MADARIPUR
A court has sentenced 23 people to death and six to life imprisonment in a case filed over the 2012 murder of Rajib Sardar in Madaripur. Four others were acquitted.
MARCH 20, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: ZAHIR JAFFER GETS DOUBLE DEATH SENTENCE IN NOOR MUKADAM MURDER CASE
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on 13 March 2023 maintained the death sentence of accused Zahir Jaffar in the Noor Mukadam murder case, upholding the trial court's decision.
MARCH 20, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: 122 MALE, THREE FEMALE INMATES ON DEATH ROW IN GOMBE, BAUCHI
The Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) says it has at least 125 inmates on death row in its facilities in Gombe and Bauchi states.
MARCH 18, 2023IndianaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Indiana. Former death row inmate Thomas Schiro released from prison
MARCH 18, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 unidentified men sentenced to death in terrorist attack
On March 18
MARCH 17, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohiyedin Ebrahimi executed in Urmia on March 17
Kurdish political prisoner
- MARCH 16, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING BIOLOGICAL FATHER IN AKWA IBOM
Akwa Ibom State High court sitting in Etinan Local Government Area has sentenced one Moses Abdon Edo, aged 37, to death by hanging for killing his biological father, Abdon Peter Edo over a plot of land, Tribune Online reported on 14 March 2023.
MARCH 16, 2023TunisiaDEATH PENALTYTUNISIA: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER DEADLY BLAST NEAR US EMBASSY
A Tunisian court has condemned to death two nationals of the North African country for a 2020 suicide attack that killed a policeman near the United States embassy, local media said on 14 March 2023.
MARCH 15, 2023JapanDEATH PENALTYJAPAN: HIGH COURT ORDERS RETRIAL OF LONGEST-SERVING DEATH ROW CONVICT OVER 1966 MURDER CASE
The world’s longest-serving death row convict was on 13 March 2023 granted a retrial by a Japanese court in the latest twist in a legal saga dating back to the 1960s.
MARCH 15, 2023MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: DRUG DEALER SENTENCED TO DEATH BY SIBU HIGH COURT
A drug dealer on 13 March 2023 was sentenced to death by Sibu High Court.