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
JULY 1, 2021EgyptDEATH PENALTYEGYPT: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SLAYING TEEN SON WITH SCALPEL
An Egyptian court has convicted a father of killing his teenage son with a scalpel and sentenced him to death, Gulf News reported on 29 June 2021.
JULY 1, 2021Sri LankaDEATH PENALTYSRI LANKA: DEATH ROW PRISONERS END HUNGER STRIKE
Death row prisoners in Sri Lanka, who were on a hunger strike demanding commutation of their sentences, similar to the Presidential pardon extended to a former parliamentarian facing capital punishment earlier in the week, have ended their protest after o
JULY 1, 2021OklahomaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Oklahoma. Death row inmate Nicholas Davis dies after contracting COVID-19
Davis is 1 of 56 inmates who have died of COVID-19 in Oklahoma
- JULY 1, 2021CaliforniaDEATH PENALTY
USA - California. Douglas Harris sentenced to death
JUNE 30, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death row juvenile offender Ali Arjangi pays diya
Escapes execution
JUNE 29, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Urgent Action To Save Hossein Kheiri
A Political Prisoner Sentenced To Death
JUNE 28, 2021Myanmar (Burma)DEATH PENALTYMYANMAR: AT LEAST 64 PROTESTERS, TWO OF THEM UNDERAGE, SENTENCED TO DEATH BY MILITARY COURTS
At least 64 Myanmar citizens detained in protests against the country’s Feb. 1 military coup have been sentenced to death by junta courts.
- JUNE 25, 2021Sri LankaDEATH PENALTY
SRI LANKA: DEATH ROW INMATES PROTEST EX-LAWMAKER'S PARDON
About 150 death row inmates were on a hunger strike on 25 June 2021 to demand their sentences be commuted after Sri Lanka’s president pardoned a former lawmaker who had been condemned for an election-related killing.
JUNE 25, 2021JapanDEATH PENALTYJAPAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRIVING TRUCK INTO ROAD CLEANERS IN FUKUSHIMA
A man convicted of killing two road cleaners in the Fukushima Prefecture town of Miharu in May last year by ramming into them with a truck was sentenced to death at the Koriyama branch of the Fukushima District Court on 24 June 2021.
JUNE 25, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: MAN WHO MURDERED KURDISH FAMILY IN BAGHDAD SENTENCED TO DEATH
A man who killed a Kurdish family of three in Baghdad was sentenced to death on 8 June 2021, a lawyer told Rudaw.
JUNE 25, 2021United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - 'Capital Punishment 2019' Reports Number on Death Row Down
Average Time on Death Row Approaches 19 Years
JUNE 24, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: 13 PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TERRORISM BY BAGHDAD COURT
Thirteen people have been sentenced to death in Iraq after confessing to their association with the Islamic State (ISIS), according to a statement from the Supreme Judicial Council.
JUNE 23, 2021YemenDEATH PENALTYYEMEN: HOUTHIS SENTENCE TWO ACTIVISTS TO DEATH
A Houthi-run court on 15 June 2021 ordered that Zafaran Zaid, a Yemeni human rights activist and lawyer, and her husband and fellow activist Fuad Al-Mansouri be executed by firing squad.
JUNE 22, 2021BahrainDEATH PENALTYBAHRAIN REJECTS UN CALL TO RELEASE TWO ANTI-REGIME POLITICAL ACTIVISTS FACING DEATH PENALTY
Bahrain on 20 June 2021 rejected a call by the United Nations rights watchdog to release and compensate two anti-regime political activists facing death sentences.
JUNE 22, 2021IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: PATNA HC ACQUITS MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING WIFE
The Patna High Court on 21 June 2021 acquitted a man, who was given the death penalty by a court in Bihar's Gopalganj district for murdering his wife for dowry in 2007, for lack of evidence.
JUNE 17, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: TWO CLERICS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KIDNAPPING AND MURDERING STUDENT
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Pakistan on 14 June 2021 sentenced two clerics to death after finding them guilty of kidnapping a 15-year-old student for ransom and later murdering him.
JUNE 16, 2021SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: 17 AL-SHABAAB MEMBERS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN PUNTLAND
The military Supreme Court in the semi-autonomous Somali regional state of Puntland on 13 June 2021 sentenced 17 men to death in Galkayo.
JUNE 16, 2021IraqDEATH PENALTYIRAQ: AL-QAEDA MEMBER SENTENCED TO DEATH
An Iraqi criminal court handed down two death sentences to a senior al-Qaeda religious leader member, the Supreme Judicial Council announced on 14 June 2021.
JUNE 16, 2021North CarolinaDEATH PENALTYUSA - North Carolina. Governor pardons ex-death row inmate Charles Ray Finch
Who spent more than 40 years in prison
JUNE 16, 2021North CarolinaDEATH PENALTYUSA - North Carolina. Judge frees Michael Wayne Sherrill from death row
Sentenced to death 12 years ago
JUNE 15, 2021IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 10 AWARDED DEATH FOR 2018 MURDER OF BIHAR BUSINESSMAN
A session court in Bihar on 14 June 2021 sentenced 10 persons to death for the murder of a local businessman for extortion in 2018.
JUNE 15, 2021EgyptDEATH PENALTYEGYPT: DEATH PENALTY UPHELD FOR 12 BROTHERHOOD MEMBERS
An Egyptian court on 14 June 2021 upheld death sentences for 12 Muslim Brotherhood members, concluding a trial linked to a 2013 mass killing by security forces at an Islamist sit-in, a judicial official said.
JUNE 14, 2021BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: DEATH ROW PRISONER VIKTAR PAULAU ‘MOST LIKELY EXECUTED’, CONVICT’S SISTER SAID
Death row inmate Viktar Paulau was ‘most likely executed’, the convict’s sister Raisa told Andrey Paluda, coordinator of the campaign ‘Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus’.
JUNE 14, 2021BotswanaDEATH PENALTYBOTSWANA: MAN EXECUTED OVER 2011 MURDERS OF HIS GIRLFRIEND AND CHILD
Botswana on 11 June 2021 carried out the execution of a man who murdered his girlfriend and young son in 2011.
JUNE 10, 2021EgyptDEATH PENALTYEGYPT: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAPING MENTALLY ILL GIRL
An Egyptian court had sentenced a man to death by hanging after convicting him of raping a mentally challenged girl in his house, the Gulf News reported on 8 June 2021.
JUNE 9, 2021TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. Raymond Riles resentenced to life
After 45 years on death row
JUNE 9, 2021TunisiaDEATH PENALTYTUNISIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR THE MURDER OF POLICE OFFICER IN 2017
A court in Tunisia sentenced to death a takfiri for the murder of Commandant Riadh Barrouta killed in a stabbing attack back in 2017 at Bardo Museum in capital Tunis.
JUNE 9, 2021NebraskaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Nebraska. Aubrey Trail sentenced to death
- JUNE 8, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM: FOREIGN SECRETARY URGED TO INTERVENE IN SAUDI ARABIA DEATH PENALTY CASES
The relatives of two men awaiting execution in Saudi Arabia on 7 June 2021 asked British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to press for their release while he visits the kingdom.
JUNE 6, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Shahin Mirkhani executed in Shirvan Prison on June 6
For drugs