Government must help mentally ill British grandfather facing blasphemy death sentence in Pakistan

The UK Government must take immediate steps to protect an elderly, mentally-ill British man sentenced to death today for blasphemy in Pakistan, legal charity Reprieve has said.

Mohammad Asghar (71), from Edinburgh, has a long and documented history of psychological ill health. Just four months before his arrest by the Pakistani authorities in September 2010, Mr. Asghar was sectioned in Scotland under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, and taken to Royal Victoria Hospital in Edinburgh. He was soon diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and kept under observation at the hospital for over a month. He moved to Pakistan shortly after his release.

Mr Asghar’s legal team at Reprieve have obtained information confirming his mental and physical ill health, and stating that he requires constant care. These include his NHS records and an affidavit signed by Dr. Jane McLennan, Senior Consultant at Royal Victoria Hospital.

Throughout his trial proceedings in Pakistan, Mr Asghar displayed evidence of ill health, becoming extremely agitated during visits by his Reprieve lawyers and suffering from persistent delusions. During this time, he was admitted to a local hospital, but despite clear evidence of mental illness, he was released back to jail, where he shares a cell with several prisoners. In 2010 Mr Asghar suffered from a stroke in 2010 which has left him with persistent left-sided weakness. The medication required is not available to him in jail.

Mr Asghar’s lawyers are to seek an urgent appeal of his sentence.

Maya Foa, director of Reprieve’s death penalty team, which is supporting Mr Ashgar said:

“One only needs to check Mohammed Asghar’s extensive UK medical records to see that he is a seriously mentally ill man, in dire need of medical care. The evidence is clear that he is unable to defend himself in court. Worse still, he is currently being held in utterly unsuitable conditions in prison, and we are very concerned about his health. The British government must immediately take all necessary steps to secure Mr Asghar’s safety.”

Source: Reprieve, January 24, 2014

Indiana's governor turns down clemency request, says execution planned for Thursday will go forward

Indiana’s governor turned down a clemency request and says an execution planned for Thursday will go forward against a man who killed his girlfriend’s two children in 2010 Indiana's governor turned down a clemency request Monday and said an execution planned for this week would go forward for a man who set a fire that killed his girlfriend's two children in 2010. Gov. Mike Braun said he would follow the Indiana Parole Board's recommendation to let the death sentence stand for Jeffrey Weisheit. “The Indiana Department of Correction will continue preparations to carry out the court-ordered sentence of execution” Thursday, said Braun, a Republican.

Iran | 10 executed in Ahvaz, Isfahan, Karaj

Four prisoners, including an Afghan national, were executed at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. All four had been sentenced to death under Iran’s qisas (retributive justice) laws on murder charges. According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, one of the executed prisoners was identified as Gol Agha Eskandari, an Afghan national. Eskandari had been convicted of murder following a dispute between neighbors in the Khorasan Square area of Tehran in July 2024 and subsequently sentenced to death.

Indiana executes Jeffrey Weisheit

An Indiana man who admitted killing his girlfriend's two children was executed early Thursday in the first of three lethal injections scheduled for the same day in the U.S. Jeffrey Weisheit killed the children, ages 8 and 5, by setting fire to his girlfriend's house in the Evansville area in 2010. The remains of 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and 5-year-old Caleb Lynch were recovered from the ruins of a fire at their home in the Evansville area. Alyssa’s body was in a closet. Caleb’s body was on a mattress, restrained with duct tape. A railroad flare was in his underwear, and another was under his body. The children’s mother, Lisa Lynch, was at work at the time. She was in a relationship with Weisheit, but it was breaking down, investigators said. Weisheit spent 13 years on death row after his conviction. Weisheit died at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. The lethal injection started just after midnight, and he was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m., according to Noelle Russell, ...

USA | 3 states to carry out rare triple execution this week

If all three executions are carried out as planned, it will be the second triple execution in the U.S. this year, reflecting an overall uptick in the death penalty since the beginning of 2025. Three states are planning to carry out a rare triple execution this week on Nov. 5. Indiana is set to execute Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, by lethal injection for the 2010 murders of his girlfriend's two children, 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and her 5-year-old brother, Caleb. The children were burned alive in their home.

Vigil planned ahead of high-profile Oklahoma inmate's execution

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Judge allows Tennessee death row inmates to include botched executions in lawsuit

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Florida executes Jesse Guardado

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Indiana Parole Board hears testimony on clemency for man scheduled for Nov. 5 execution

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Alabama executes Michael Shannon Taylor

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Newsom Commutes the Sentences of California’s 548 Death Row Inmates

Gov. Gavin Newsom, in one of his last acts, commuted the sentences of all prisoners with death sentences, calling capital punishment morally objectionable. That’s about 1/4 of death sentences nationwide. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California moved to spare the lives of all 548 prisoners on the state’s death row on Thursday in the largest mass commutation of death sentences in modern American history. Mr. Newsom said he made the decision because he finds capital punishment morally objectionable. He reduced every death sentence to life in prison without parole, a sweeping move that will require a review by the state’s highest court in some cases and could draw legal challenges.

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