Death Penalty News

In an exclusive report, the American magazine TIME cited two senior officials from the Iranian Ministry of Health, who stated that the scale of the crackdown against protesters on January 18 and 19 was so widespread that 18-wheeler trailers replaced ambulances. In its report, based on testimony from these two high-ranking officials, TIME revealed statistics that differ vastly from the official narrative of the Islamic Republic.

The head of Iran’s judiciary warned on Sunday that those behind a recent wave of anti-government protests could expect punishment “without the slightest leniency.” What began earlier this month as demonstrations against the high cost of living boiled over into a broader protest movement that represented the gravest challenge to the Islamic Republic’s clerical leadership in years. The protests have abated following a government crackdown, carried out under an internet blackout that left the country largely cut off from the outside world.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 25 January 2026: Newly obtained reports show a new wave of repressive measures have been targeted against those who provided medical assistance to injured protesters.  Security forces have raided homes and clinics, violently arresting doctors and volunteers and damaging or destroying their property. According to various reports received by IHRNGO, security forces have been cracking down on health personnel and volunteers who have fulfilled their humanitarian duty by helping treat wounded protesters.

Data and recent Supreme Court judgments show how trial court death sentences frequently collapse under appellate scrutiny, raising questions about investigation, evidence and the use of capital punishment. Hanumangarh, Rajasthan: Eight years after a crime that later led to a death sentence, the Supreme Court has acquitted a young man from Chennai convicted of the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl. A trial court in Chengalpattu had sentenced him to death in 2018, a verdict later upheld by the Madras High Court. Earlier this month, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court overturned both judgments, citing serious gaps in the prosecution’s case.

Field accounts from multiple Iranian cities show that after killing protesters, the ruling regime in Iran demanded large fees from families to release the bodies of the victims, extending repression from the streets into private life. What unfolded in Iran in January was not viewed by international human rights mechanisms as isolated incidents or excessive crowd control. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, has stated that the pattern of repression, marked by its scale, organization, and direct targeting of civilians, contains the elements of crimes against humanity.

Florida’s second execution of 2026, a man convicted of killing a grocery story owner, will take place in February. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant Jan. 23 for Melvin Trotter, 65, to die by lethal injection Feb. 24.  Florida's first execution will take place just a few weeks earlier when Ronald Palmer Heath is set to die Feb. 10. Trotter was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1987 for strangling and stabbing Virgie Langford a year earlier in Palmetto. 

EASTLAND, Texas — Cody Pritchard received the death penalty today for the shooting death of Eastland County Deputy David Bosecker back in 2023. According to court documents, the Eastland County Sheriff's Office responded to an emergency call involving a disturbance in Rising Star. When a deputy attempted to enter the property to respond to the call, Cody Pritchard crashed a car into the patrol unit before shooting the deputy. Court documents state that Deputy David Bosecker was pronounced dead on the scene and Pritchard admitted to the crimes and was charged with Capital Murder.

The mother of a 5-year-old girl who was thrown into the Everglades and left to be attacked by alligators spoke about the trauma she and her daughter went through.  On Tuesday, prosecutors asked the jury to send the girl's killer back to Florida's death row.  Prosecutor Abbe Rifkin told the jury that Quatisha Maycock, known as "Candy," was excited to start kindergarten, showing them a photo of her smiling.  About a month after school started, Harrel Braddy took Quatisha to a remote part of Alligator Alley, the stretch of I-75 cutting through Florida's Everglades, where he knew she would vanish. 

Iran’s top prosecutor has called US President Donald Trump’s claims about halting the hangings of 800 detained protesters “completely false.” DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s top prosecutor on Friday called U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he halted the hangings of 800 detained protesters there “completely false.” Meanwhile, the overall death toll from a bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 5,002, activists said. Activists fear many more are dead. They struggle to confirm information as the most comprehensive internet blackout in Iran’s history has crossed the two-week mark.

Texas prison officials will attempt to execute their 1st death row inmate of 2026 next week. Charles Thompson, who was convicted of killing his former girlfriend, Glenda Dennise Hayslip, and her companion, Darren Cain, in April of 1998, is scheduled to die on Jan. 28.  An attorney representing Thompson has not replied to questions from the Chronicle about the efforts he will make to try to save Thompson’s life. As of press time, no appeal on the inmate’s behalf has been filed with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. 

On the 20th anniversary of the execution of Clarence Ray Allen, civil rights advocates are urging California to make his execution the last by permanently ending the state’s death penalty. An article from The Sacramento Bee reports that advocates are calling on Gavin Newsom to begin the legal process to halt the sentences of nearly 600 people currently on death row.  On Jan. 17, 2006, at 12:38 a.m., the state of California executed Allen, 76, by lethal injection inside San Quentin State Prison. He had been convicted of three counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and was sentenced to death in 1982. 

After an attempt to add firing squads to Indiana law stalled in the Senate, a House panel on Wednesday passed a bill expanding the state’s execution methods.  Firing squad and nitrogen hypoxia would be allowed alongside lethal injection to carry about Indiana’s death penalty under a bill that passed 8-5 out of the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee.  House Bill 1119 was amended and now moves to the full chamber. Under the measure, it would be up to the Indiana Department of Correction to choose the manner of execution and state employees could not be forced to participate. 

The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a plea seeking a painless procedure for death convicts other than hanging. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta has reserved their judgment after hearing Attorney General for India R Venkataramani, Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora (for Project 39A), and Advocate Rishi Malhotra, who is the petitioner. In 2023, the Supreme Court had allowed an intervention application filed by National Law University, Delhi's Project 39A in the plea seeking a painless procedure for death convicts.

TEHRAN, Iran — A young Iranian soldier has been sentenced to death after refusing orders to fire on anti-government protesters amid a wave of nationwide demonstrations that began late last year, according to a human rights group. Javid Khales, a member of Iran's security forces, was arrested immediately after declining to shoot at demonstrators, the Iran Human Rights Society reported. He has since been transferred to a prison in Isfahan province.

A woman who abused and killed her stepdaughter was executed on Tuesday in Fujian province after the top court approved her death sentence, local authorities said.  Xu Jinhua was put to death by the Putian Intermediate People's Court, which had convicted her of intentional homicide and abuse and sentenced her to death.  Prosecutors supervised the execution in accordance with the law, and Xu was allowed to meet with close relatives beforehand, the court said. 

Israel’s Knesset National Security Committee on Tuesday advanced preparations for legislation that would expand the use of the death penalty for convicted terrorists, holding a charged debate that exposed deep divisions between security officials, legal authorities, lawmakers, and bereaved families. The discussion focused on two proposed amendments to Israel’s Penal Law that would make it easier to impose capital punishment in cases of severe terrorist attacks. Israel formally retains the death penalty in limited statutes, including for crimes against humanity and genocide, but it has been carried out only once since the state’s founding, making the move highly controversial domestically and internationally.

Overall, 37 people have been taken to the United States Mexico announced the extradition of dozens more cartel operatives to the United States, the third such operation under the presidency of Claudia Sheinbaum. Mexican Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch announced in a social media publication that 37 people have been sent to the United States. He noted that the people "represented a real threat to the country's security" and the extraditions were carried "in accordance with the National Security Law and under mechanisms of bilateral cooperation with full respect for national sovereignty."

Kuwait City: Kuwait’s Court of Appeals has upheld the death sentence against a man convicted of murdering his girlfriend in the Rumaithiya suburb and attempting to conceal her body inside a suitcase to smuggle it out of the country, local media reported. The ruling, issued after a hearing chaired by Judge Abdullah Al Othman, amended the legal classification of the crime to premeditated murder by strangulation while maintaining the maximum penalty.

Four Prisoners Executed on Charges of Murder and Drug Offenses HRANA – Amid nationwide protests in Iran, widespread internet shutdowns, and severe restrictions on the flow of information, at least four prisoners were executed on Tuesday, January 20, in Borazjan, Ilam, Khaf, and Birjand prisons.  These prisoners had previously been sentenced to death on charges related to drug-related crimes and murder. Based on information received by HRANA, Mikaeil Bahari was executed in Borazjan Prison and Kamran Ghiasvand in Ilam Prison on charges of murder. Foroud Sagvand, a native of Lorestan, was executed in Khaf Prison, and Mardan Saeedi was executed in Birjand Prison, both on charges related to drug offenses.

NARA, Japan — More than three years after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stunned Japan and reverberated around the world, the man who killed the country’s longest-serving leader was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday. The ruling brings formal closure to one of the most shocking crimes in Japan’s postwar history, while leaving unresolved questions about political accountability, religious influence, and the rare eruption of gun violence in a nation defined by its absence.