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
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: 3 GET DEATH FOR KILLING RICKSHAW PULLER OVER WIFE’S ILLICIT AFFAIR; 2 GET LIFE, WOMAN ACQUITTED
A Dehradun court on August 22, 2025 awarded the death penalty to three men for murdering a rickshaw puller in Nov 2022 by forcing him to drink alcohol and smashing his head with a stone.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2025IndonesiaDEATH PENALTYINDONESIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRAFFICKING ECSTASY PILLS
A North Sumatra court on September 4, 2025 sentenced 36-year-old M. Alfarisi to death for acting as a courier in the trafficking of nearly 4,833 ecstasy pills.
SEPTEMBER 8, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political Prisoner Pejman Toubrehrizi sentenced to death
On the charge of membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran
SEPTEMBER 7, 2025Sri LankaDEATH PENALTYSRI LANKA: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR POSSESSING AND TRAFFICKING HEROIN
Colombo High Court Judge R.S.S. Sapuwidha on September 4, 2025 sentenced a 52-year-old married woman to death after finding her guilty of possessing and trafficking 41.65 grams of heroin.
SEPTEMBER 7, 2025ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER OFFICIAL OF MINISTRY SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH TWO-YEAR REPRIEVE FOR LEAKING STATE SECRETS
China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) on September 4, 2025 revealed that a former official of a state ministry was lured into befriending a spy, then blackmailed using compromising information, ultimately leading to his conviction for espionage and a d
SEPTEMBER 4, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: UP MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE, MURDER OF 8-YEAR-OLD DALIT GIRL
A special SC/ST court in Mathura (Uttar Pradesh) on September 2, 2025 awarded the death penalty to a 50-year-old man for abducting, raping and murdering an eight-year-old Dalit girl in 2020, calling it a "rarest of rare case for its brutality".
SEPTEMBER 3, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: DEATH PENALTY FOR MAN WHO BURNT ALIVE WIFE OVER SKIN COLOUR
A court in India on August 30, 2025 gave the death penalty to a man for burning alive his wife over her skin colour.
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2025LaosDEATH PENALTY
LAOS: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR METH TRAFFICKING
The Xayabouly Provincial People’s Court on August 27,2025 sentenced a 29-year-old man to death after convicting him of trafficking methamphetamine and crystal meth. The ruling became public on 30 August.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: ASSAM MAN, WHO KILLED WOMAN FOR REFUSING TO MARRY HIM, SENTENCED TO DEATH
A court in Assam's Dhemaji on August 21, 2025 sentenced a man to death for the brutal murder of a college student in 2021.
AUGUST 28, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING, KILLING CHILD
A Cox's Bazar court on August 26, 2025 sentenced a man to death for raping and murdering a six-year-old girl in Moheshkhali upazila in 2022.
AUGUST 27, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS REJECTION OF DEATH ROW INMATE RETRIAL REQUEST
Taiwan's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by death row inmate Cheng Yi-lung, confirming an earlier Taiwan High Court decision to deny his request for a retrial, CNA reported on August 27, 2025.
AUGUST 26, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH, ONE GETS LIFE FOR CTG MURDER CASE
A Chattogram court on August 26, 2025 sentenced two men to death and another to life imprisonment for the 2020 murder of Mahfuzur Rahman at EPZ police station area.
AUGUST 25, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: THREE PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR GANG RAPE, INCITING SUICIDE OF TEENAGER IN NETROKONA
A Netrokona court on July 28, 2025 sentenced three men to death for the gang rape of 14-year-old Panna, inciting her to kill herself in a 2017 case that drew public outrage.
AUGUST 25, 2025NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: KWARA ISLAMIC CLERIC TO DIE BY HANGING FOR KILLING FACEBOOK LOVER
A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, the state capital, on July 31, 2025 sentenced Abdulrahman Bello to death by hanging for the murder of 24-year-old Hafsoh Yetunde Lawal, a final-year student of the Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin.
- AUGUST 24, 2025VietnamDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: KENYAN MARGARET NDUTA'S DEATH SENTENCE FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING COMMUTED TO LIFE
Margaret Nduta, the Kenyan woman condemned to death in Vietnam for drug trafficking, can now heave a sigh of relief after a Vietnamese court on July 31, 2025 commuted her death penalty to a life sentence.
AUGUST 22, 2025AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. New trial for Christopher Barbour
- AUGUST 21, 2025Sri LankaDEATH PENALTY
SRI LANKA: THREE-WHEELER DRIVER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING MAN IN KELANIYA
A 43-year-old three-wheeler driver was sentenced to death by the Colombo High Court on August 21, 2025, after being found guilty of stabbing and killing a person with a sharp weapon following an argument.
AUGUST 20, 2025SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: MILITARY COURT SENTENCES HARAMCAD OFFICER TO DEATH FOR KILLING UNARMED CIVILIAN
A Somali military court on August 2, 2025 sentenced a former officer from the Haram'ad special police unit to death by firing squad after finding him guilty of murdering an unarmed day labourer in a brazen, unprovoked shooting that has reignited public de
AUGUST 20, 2025PennsylvaniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Pennsylvania. Paul Kendrick, 30, Black, sentenced to death
AUGUST 19, 2025IllinoisDEATH PENALTYUSA - Illinois. Robert Melock, sentenced to death in 1989, obtains a “certificate of innocence” from the court
After 34 years of incarceration. Exoneree n. 201
AUGUST 6, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Political prisoners Rouzbeh Vadi and Mehdi Asgharzadeh executed in Ghezel Hesar on August 6
- AUGUST 4, 2025IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - 4 political prisoners sentenced to death
Mohammad Darvish Narouyi, Yassin Kabdani, Farhad Baranzehi, Omran Aghal
AUGUST 1, 2025DEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida Derrick Clay sentenced to death
- JULY 31, 2025KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
KUWAIT: COUPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR FATAL ABUSE OF DOMESTIC WORKER
A Kuwaiti criminal court has sentenced a husband and wife to death by hanging for the fatal beating of their domestic worker.
JULY 31, 2025BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 5 SENTENCED TO DEATH IN FARIDPUR EASY BIKE DRIVER MURDER CASE
A court in Faridpur sentenced five people to death and another to 10 years’ imprisonment in the murder case of easy bike driver Shaukat Mollya.
JULY 31, 2025AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Stay of impending execution of David Roberts
JULY 31, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men executed in Shiraz on July 31
788 executions since the beginning of 2025
- JULY 30, 2025FranceDEATH PENALTY
FRANCE: SERGE ATLAOUI RELEASED AFTER YEARS ON INDONESIA DEATH ROW
A Frenchman who spent almost two decades on death row in Indonesia over drug offences before being returned to France left prison on July 18, 2025 after being granted a conditional release.
JULY 30, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Prisoner Executed in Public in Semnan Province on July 30
JULY 28, 2025IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: SUPREME COURT COMMUTES RAPIST'S DEATH PENALTY TO LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT REMISSION
The Supreme Court of India on July 16, 2025 commuted a man's death penalty in a minor's rape and murder case to life in prison without remission.