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
OCTOBER 10, 2025IndianaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Indiana. Roy Lee Ward, 53, White, was executed on October 10
By lethal injection
OCTOBER 10, 2025DEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Jose Soto-Escalera sentenced to death
OCTOBER 9, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SODOMY, MURDER OF 8- YR-OLD
Ghazipur district's Special Court (Pocso) Judge Ramavatar Prasad on October 7, 2025 sentenced accused Sanjay Nat to death for sodomising and murdering an eight-year-old in Feb last year.
OCTOBER 9, 2025TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. Court of Appeals granted Roberson’s request for a stay of execution
- OCTOBER 8, 2025MissouriDEATH PENALTY
USA - Missouri. Joshua Rocha sentenced to death
OCTOBER 7, 2025TunisiaDEATH PENALTYTUNISIA: COURT RELEASES MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH AFTER WIDESPREAD CRITICISM
A Tunisian court released a man on October 7, 2025 who had been sentenced to death just last week for Facebook posts criticising the president, following a wave of public criticism and human rights concerns over the case.
- OCTOBER 6, 2025PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: SC ACQUITS TWO BROTHERS ON DEATH ROW IN PIDC BOMB BLAST CASE
The Supreme Court has set aside the death sentence handed down to two brothers and acquitted them in the 2005 PIDC (Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation) House bomb blast case, Dawn reported on October 1, 2025.
OCTOBER 6, 2025TunisiaDEATH PENALTYTUNISIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR FACEBOOK POSTS SEEN AS INSULTING TO THE PRESIDENT
A court in Tunisia has sentenced a 51-year-old man to death over Facebook posts deemed offensive to President Kais Saied and a threat to state security, his lawyer said on October 3, 2025.
OCTOBER 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death Sentence of Mohammad-Javad Vafaei Sani Upheld
Political prisoner
OCTOBER 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 6 political prisoners executed in Ahvaz on October 4
Ali Mojaddam, Mohammadreza Moghaddam, Moein Khanfari, Habib Dris, Adnan Ghabishavi, and Salem Mousavi
OCTOBER 2, 2025PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: LHC ACQUITS DEATH ROW PRISONER IN WOMAN’S MURDER CASE
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on October 1, 2025 acquitted Sarfraz Ahmed, a death row prisoner, in a woman’s murder case registered at Ghalib Market police station, citing non-matching DNA evidence and flaws in the investigation.
- OCTOBER 1, 2025Congo - KinshasaDEATH PENALTY
CONGO: EX-PRESIDENT KABILA SENTENCED TO DEATH IN ABSENTIA BY MILITARY COURT
Former Democratic Republic of Congo president Joseph Kabila was sentenced to death in absentia on September 30, 2025 by a military court that convicted him of war crimes, treason, and crimes against humanity.
- OCTOBER 1, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: FORMER SENIOR POLITICAL ADVISER IN GUIZHOU SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BRIBERY
A former senior political adviser in Guizhou province, Chen Yan, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on September 29, 2025 for taking bribes, Xinhua News Agency reported.
- SEPTEMBER 30, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA SENTENCES 11 MEMBERS OF MAFIA FAMILY TO DEATH
A Chinese court on September 29, 2025 sentenced to death 11 members of a notorious family that ran scam centres in Myanmar, according to Chinese state media.
SEPTEMBER 30, 2025AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Jury sentences Jesse Patrick McClure to death
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: EX-AGRICULTURE MINISTER SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH REPRIEVE FOR HUGE BRIBES
Tang Renjian, former minister of agriculture and rural affairs, has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery, a court in Changchun, Jilin province, announced on September 28, 2025.
SEPTEMBER 29, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 2 men sentenced to death on charges of “collaboration with the Zionist regime”
Also accused of having links with the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK)
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2025NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: SOLDIER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER, ARMED ROBBERY IN AKWA IBOM
Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo on September 26, 2025 sentenced a dismissed soldier with the Nigerian Army, 6 Battalion, Ibagwa in Abak, Corporal Stephen Iweh, to death by hanging for the murder of a 42-year-old man, Christopher Enobong Jimmy.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2025MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: APEX COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY ON SRI AMAN PHARMACIST CONVICTED OF 2018 MURDER OF CHINESE NATIONAL WIFE
Kuching Federal Court on September 23, 2025 upheld the death sentence imposed on a Sri Aman pharmacist convicted of murdering his wife in 2018.
SEPTEMBER 24, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF HIS SEVEN-YEAR-OLD NIECE IN UP'S SITAPUR
A court in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur on September 18, 2025 awarded the death penalty to a 38-year-old man for the rape and murder of his seven-year-old niece, a government lawyer said on September 19, adding that the court also imposed a fine of Rs 13,000 o
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: HIGH COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF FAKE HEALER TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT
Calcutta High Court on September 18, 2025 commuted the death sentence of a 45-year-old man - convicted of murdering a woman and her daughter - to a life sentence, but directed no remission for 40 years.
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2025NigeriaDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIA: SOLDIER SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER MURDER
A General Court Martial of the Nigerian Army sitting at Maxwell Khobe Cantonment, Jos, Plateau State, has sentenced one Private Lukman Musa to death by hanging.
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT, MURDER OF MINOR GIRL IN KARNATAKA
An additional district and sessions court-cum-fast track court in Mangaluru on September 10, 2025 convicted and sentenced a 51-year-old man to death after finding him guilty of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl in Mangaluru.
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Babak Shahbazi executed in Ghezel Hesar on September 17
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: LAY JUDGES SENTENCE MAN TO DEATH FOR MURDER
A man who was charged with the murder of his wife, mother-in-law, and stepson in New Taipei City last year was sentenced to death on September 16, 2025 by a court panel that included six citizen judges, the New Taipei District Court said.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: MAN TO DIE FOR KILLING FATHER IN SIRAJGANJ
A Sirajganj court on September 14, 2025 sentenced a man to death for killing his father in 2020 over a family feud.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2025SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: MILITARY COURT SENTENCES EX-SOLDIER TO DEATH FOR AL-SHABAAB ATTACK
A Somali military court on September 1st, 2025 sentenced former soldier Mohamed Bulle Mumin to death after finding him guilty of collaborating with Al-Shabaab and orchestrating a deadly ambush in Kismayo.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2025IndonesiaDEATH PENALTYINDONESIA: FOUR MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
The Medan District Court on June 25, 2025 sentenced four men to death for trafficking 40 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine.
SEPTEMBER 12, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoner Naser Bekrzadeh sentenced to death
For the second time
SEPTEMBER 11, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: HC REDUCES DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE, JUNKS RAPE CHARGE
The Calcutta High Court on September 1st, 2025, commuted the death penalty of a 42-year-old man convicted of the murder of a six-year-old at Uttarpara to life imprisonment