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
- DECEMBER 16, 2020SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
SINGAPORE: BANGLADESHI WORKER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING INDONESIAN MAID GIRLFRIEND IN GEYLANG HOTEL
A Bangladeshi worker was sentenced to death on 14 December 2020 in Singapore for murdering his domestic helper girlfriend in a Geylang hotel two years ago.
- DECEMBER 16, 2020AlabamaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Alabama. Reversal of Death Sentence for Lionel Francis.
USA - Alabama. Reversal of Death Sentence for Lionel Francis.
DECEMBER 15, 2020ZambiaDEATH PENALTYZAMBIA: NDOLA WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING GYM INSTRUCTOR BOYFRIEND
A Ndola woman who murdered her boyfriend, Jeremiah Mbawa, a gym instructor at Solwezi’s Floriana Lodge in December 2019, by burning him with petrol, has been sentenced to death, the Zambian Observer reported on 11 December 2020.
DECEMBER 15, 2020BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 5 CONVICTS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN RAPE CASE ACQUITTED
Netrokona High Court on 14 December 2020 acquitted five convicts who were sentenced to death for gang-raping a teenager.
DECEMBER 15, 2020JapanDEATH PENALTYJAPAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERS OF NINE PEOPLE CONTACTED VIA TWITTER
Tokyo district court on 15 December 2020 sentenced a man to death for the 2017 murders of nine people, local media reported, ending a case that grabbed headlines in Japan with the culprit dubbed “Twitter killer” for contacting victims via the social media
DECEMBER 12, 2020IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ruhollah Zam executed in an unknown location early this morning.
IRAN - Ruhollah Zam executed in an unknown location early this morning.
DECEMBER 11, 2020JapanDEATH PENALTYJAPAN: MAN GIVEN DEATH SENTENCE FOR 2018 MURDERS OF FIVE IN KAGOSHIMA
A court on 11 December 2020 sentenced a 41-year-old man to death for murdering five people in 2018 at a home in the prefecture of Kagoshima.
DECEMBER 10, 2020TanzaniaDEATH PENALTYTANZANIA: DEATH SENTENCES OF 256 CONVICTS COMMUTED
Tanzania’s president on 9 December 2020 commuted the sentences of 256 convicts on death row, marking a first for a country that has not executed anyone in nearly three decades.
DECEMBER 10, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Federal. Brandon Bernard, 40, Black, was executed.
USA - Federal. Brandon Bernard, 40, Black, was executed.
DECEMBER 9, 2020BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: WIFE, FOUR OTHERS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING MAN
A Khagrachhari court sentenced five people to death on 3 December 2020 for plotting to kill a man in Guimara, Khagrachhari.
DECEMBER 8, 2020NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: APPEAL COURT UPHOLDS MARYAM SANDA’S DEATH SENTENCE
The Court of Appeal in the Nigerian capital Abuja on 4 December 2020 affirmed the death penalty imposed on Maryam Sanda, a mother of two, who was sentenced to death for the murder of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, in November 2017.
DECEMBER 7, 2020Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING SECURITY OFFICERS
A Saudi court on 3 December 2020 sentenced one man to death for killing two security personnel on the border with Yemen, according to Saudi media.
- DECEMBER 7, 2020DEATH PENALTY
USA - North Carolina. New sentencing hearing for William Leroy Barnes.
USA - North Carolina. New sentencing hearing for William Leroy Barnes.
- DECEMBER 5, 2020Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
DRC: 14 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF RAPPER TWINS
A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on 3 December 2020 sentenced 14 men to death for the murder of twin brothers, who were burned alive in a remote community.
DECEMBER 5, 2020BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: SEVEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING UP CHAIRMAN ATIK ULLAH
A Dhaka court on 2 December 2020 sentenced seven people to death for killing Konda union parishad chairman and Awami League leader Atik Ullah Chowdhury.
- DECEMBER 4, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Intellectually Disabled Defendants of Color, Foreign Nationals Disproportionately Subject to the Death Penalty.
USA - Intellectually Disabled Defendants of Color, Foreign Nationals Disproportionately Subject to the Death Penalty.
DECEMBER 3, 2020PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: DEATH SENTENCE OF 2003 RIMSHA RAPE, MURDER CASE CONVICT UPHELD BY SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on 2 December 2020 denied the appeal of the accused in the 2003 case pertaining to the rape and murder of a minor and upheld the death sentence which had previously been awarded to accused Shabaan.
DECEMBER 3, 2020NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: ONDO COURT SENTENCES THREE TO DEATH FOR ARMED ROBBERY
Three persons, Ikechukwu Chukwu, Obieze Sylvanus and Chidiebere Obi, have been sentenced to death by hanging by an Ondo State High Court, The Nation reported on 27 November 2020.
- DECEMBER 3, 2020IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF MINOR GIRL
A Firozabad court in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, awarded death sentence on 1st December 2020 in a rape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl last year.
- DECEMBER 2, 2020BangladeshDEATH PENALTY
BANGLADESH: THREE GET DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING CHILD IN NARAYANGANJ
A court in Narayanganj on 29 November 2020 sentenced three people to death and one to ten years in prison for killing five-year-old child Shoaib Hossain at Sonargaon in Narayanganj.
DECEMBER 2, 2020PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: COURT AWARDS DEATH PENALTY TO MURDERER ON FIVE COUNTS
Shujabad District and Sessions Court on 27 November 2020 handed over death sentence on five counts to a killer of five family members.
DECEMBER 1, 2020TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: NEW TAIPEI WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING HER TWO CHILDREN
A woman who killed her young son and daughter before attempting suicide earlier this year was sentenced to death by the New Taipei District Court on 25 November 2020, for a crime described by the court as "extremely cruel and cold-blooded."
NOVEMBER 29, 2020VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: FIVE SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER DRUG-RELATED CRIMES
Five Vietnamese men on 27 November 2020 were sentenced to death for illicitly selling and transporting drugs.
NOVEMBER 29, 2020EgyptDEATH PENALTYEGYPT: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING OF 24-YEAR-OLD MARYAM
The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced two men to death for the killing of a 24-year-old woman earlier this year in Cairo’s Maadi, Egyptian Streets reported on 26 November 2020.
- NOVEMBER 26, 2020FloridaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Florida. Thomas Fletcher sentenced to death
USA - Florida. Thomas Fletcher sentenced to death
NOVEMBER 26, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: HEBEI MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 4 RAPES, 3 MURDERS
Wang Shujin, a man from Hebei province, was sentenced to death for intentional homicide by the Handan Intermediate People's Court in Hebei on 24 November 2020 after a retrial.
NOVEMBER 26, 2020BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 2019 RAPE, MURDER IN SHARIATPUR
A Shariatpur tribunal has sentenced three people to death for the 2019 murder of a housewife after gang-rape in Damudya Upazila.
NOVEMBER 25, 2020PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: COURT AWARDS DEATH SENTENCE TO ACCUSED IN CHILD ABUSE CASE
A court in Rawalpindi on 23 November 2020 awarded death penalty to convict Qari Abdul Hai for sodomizing and murdering a seven-year-old boy in a village of Fateh Jhang.
NOVEMBER 24, 2020PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: PHC COMMUTES CONVICT’S DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE IN PRISON
The Peshawar High Court on 19 November 2020 commuted the death sentence of the man convicted for the 2017 lynching of university student Mashal Khan, converting it to life imprisonment.
NOVEMBER 23, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Oklahoma. Kim Kardashian visits death row inmate Julius Jones.
USA - Oklahoma. Kim Kardashian visits death row inmate Julius Jones.