Death Penalty News

A Chinese woman is facing the death penalty after a retrial revealed she had kidnapped and trafficked 17 children over two decades, in collaboration with her husband and lover—starting with her own son. A court in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province in southwest China, commenced a retrial last Friday for a high-profile child abduction and trafficking case, following the discovery of new evidence. The case centers on Yu Huaying, 61, who was sentenced to death last year by the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court for kidnapping and trafficking 11 children in the 1990s for profit.

Alabama is preparing to execute a man who admitted to killing five people with an ax and gun during a 2016 drug-fueled rampage and dropped his appeals, so his execution go forward. Derrick Dearman, 36, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in south Alabama.

A day after Idaho prison’s system advised that it is again ready to perform a lethal injection, an Ada County judge issued the latest death warrant for Thomas Creech, the state’s longest-serving death row prisoner, and scheduled him for another execution.  Creech, 74, is now set to be executed on Nov. 13. If fulfilled, the execution would be Idaho’s first in more than a dozen years. Prison officials called off Creech’s planned execution earlier this year when for nearly an hour they were unable to locate a suitable vein for an IV to inject him with the lethal chemicals. 

A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Aravind Kumar and K V Viswanathan set aside the death penalty but sentenced the accused to 20 years in jail. The Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted the death penalty of a man, who had murdered his pregnant daughter for performing an inter-caste marriage against her family's will. A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Aravind Kumar and K V Viswanathan set aside the death penalty but upheld the conviction of Eknath Kisan Kumbharkar from Nashik district in Maharashtra and sentenced him to 20 years in jail instead.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 14, 2024: Hadi Fallah, a man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Tabriz Central Prison on 9th October. His identity has been established as 31-year-old Hadi Fallah from Eram-Tabriz.  An informed source told IHRNGO that Hadi was arrested for carrying drugs along with another individual three years ago. Hadi was sentenced to death, and his co-defendant was sentenced to 9 years imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court.

The Los Angeles district attorney has released new evidence in the Lyle and Erik Menendez case that could potentially lead to a review of their life sentences for murder. After their first widely publicized trial ended in a mistrial, a jury convicted the Menendez brothers of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty, following a second trial in 1996. While they never denied killing their parents, the brothers claimed they acted in self-defense and were lifelong victims of sexual abuse by their father. During the second trial, prosecutors argued the “abuse didn’t happen” and the judge overseeing the case did not allow much of the defense’s evidence of abuse to be presented, according to the brothers’ attorneys.

During the French annexation, 36 prisoners were executed using this device. Built in 1799, this structure basically consists of a tall, vertical oak frame fitted with a heavy steel blade with an oblique cutting edge and suspended from the top. It was designed for a rapid execution by decapitation of those who were condemned to death in the Swiss canton of Geneva during the French period. Today it is part of the Permanent Collection at the Tavel House, the oldest building in Geneva.  

The execution of 10 prisoners, previously sentenced to death on charges related to drug offenses and murder, was carried out in Adelabad Prison in Shiraz. Additionally, two prisoners sentenced to death on similar charges were executed in the prisons of Tabriz and Jiroft. The Baloch Activists Campaign reported that on October 14, a prisoner named “Younes Akhtar Samar, from Jiroft” was executed in Jiroft Prison. He had been arrested on murder charges and sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.

Aroosa Khan's son was chatting on WhatsApp but suddenly found himself the target of "vigilante" investigators who accused him of having committed blasphemy online, a crime that carries the death penalty in Pakistan. The 27-year-old is one in hundreds of young men standing trial in Pakistan courts accused of making blasphemous statements online or in WhatsApp groups, an offence for which arrests have exploded in recent years. Many of the cases are being brought to trial by private "vigilante groups" led by lawyers and supported by volunteers who scour the internet for offenders, rights groups and police say.

On the World Day Against the Death Penalty (10 October), Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) calls on Malaysia to take the next step towards the abolition of the death penalty. This step involves abolishing the death sentence for all crimes that do not directly cause death or grievous bodily injury to the victims of the criminals. This year, the World Day theme is “dedicated to challenging the misconception that the death penalty can make people and communities safer”. Madpet asserts: It cannot.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 12, 2024: Mostafa Karami, a man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Sari Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Sari Central Prison on 12th October. His identity has been established as 40-year-old Mozafar Karami from Rasht. He was arrested for drug-related offences three years ago and sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.

Russell Henderson is serving consecutive life sentences in Wyoming after being convicted of homicide and hate crime One of the men who murdered gay college student Matthew Shepard in 1998 was denied a commutation of his sentence this week, the Wyoming Board of Parole has confirmed. Russell Henderson, who along with Aaron McKinney was convicted of homicide and hate crime charges for murdering Shepard 25 years ago, is currently serving two consecutive life sentences in Wyoming prison. Henderson applied for a reduction in his sentence earlier this year per the Board’s regulations, which allow prisoners who have served at least 10 years of a life sentence to submit a commutation petition once every five years. But the board ruled against sending Henderson’s petition to the governor, Executive Director Margaret White confirmed in statements to The Advocate this week.

The Islamic Republic’s authorities have executed at least sixteen people in a single day. According to a report by the Iran Human Rights Organization, the death sentences of 13 men and one woman were carried out on Wednesday at Karaj Central Prison. On the same day, two other prisoners were also executed at Urmia Central Prison. The charges against these prisoners were listed as “premeditated murder,” “rape,” or drug-related offenses, for which they had been sentenced to death.

(Austin, Texas, October 11, 2024) - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) – without a written opinion – has denied Robert Roberson’s request to stay his execution, scheduled for Thursday, October 17. The CCA also denied, without issuing an opinion, Mr. Roberson’s request that the Court reconsider its denial of post-conviction relief. The CCA, once again, failed to consider any of the extensive medical and scientific evidence Mr. Roberson has submitted demonstrating that his chronically ill, two-year-old daughter, Nikki, died from illness, accident, and medical error, not because of any abuse.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) -Alabama is on track to tie its record for the most executions in a single year, as Derrick Dearman, a 35-year-old Mississippi man, is scheduled to be put to death next Thursday for the 2016 murders of five people in Mobile County. Described by officials as a “gruesome and horrific” crime, Dearman was convicted of using an axe and a gun to kill his five of his girlfriend’s relatives.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 6, 2024: Ghafar Hivechi, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Gonbad Kavous Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Gonbad Kavous Prison in Golestan province on 1st October. His identity has been established as 35-year-old Ghafar Hivechi from the Doughman Turkman tribe. He was arrested four years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned a Dallas man’s conviction for hurting his girlfriend’s child due to scientific research that casts doubt on the existence of shaken baby syndrome. Now lawyers for Robert Roberson — another man on death row — hope the court’s reasoning will apply to their client as well. Andrew Wayne Roark was sentenced to 35 years in prison in March 2000 for the injuries his girlfriend’s 13-month-old baby sustained while in his care. Roark was convicted after prosecutors argued the infant suffered shaken baby syndrome and shaken impact syndrome, indicating Roark violently shook her and possibly struck her against something, leading to bleeding in her brain.

On the eve of World Day Against the Death Penalty, judicial authorities in Iran executed 11 prisoners, including a woman and a retired educator, at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Alborz Province early on Wednesday, October 9. On Wednesday, at least 11 prisoners, including six “security” prisoners, a woman, and a retired educator, were executed by the judicial authorities of the Iranian regime at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Alborz Province.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appeared likely Wednesday to give Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip at least another day in court in his long quest to throw out his murder conviction and death sentence. The justices heard arguments in a case that has produced a rare alliance in which lawyers for Glossip and the state argued that the high court should overturn Glossip’s conviction and death sentence because he did not get a fair trial. The victim’s relatives have told the high court that they want to see Glossip executed.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 - Malaysia's top court set aside the death penalty on Thursday for a former policeman convicted of the murder of a Mongolian woman, sentencing him instead to 40 years in jail, his lawyer said. The change comes after Malaysia abolished the mandatory death penalty last year, allowing those on death row to seek review of their sentences. Azilah Hadri had been handed the death penalty after being found guilty of the 2006 murder of 28-year-old Altantuya Shaariibuu, a model and interpreter to a former associate of former Prime Minister Najib Razak.

While several Asian governments have taken steps to reduce their reliance on capital punishment, Singapore marks the 22nd World Day Against the Death Penalty by continuing to execute death-row prisoners and muzzling anti-death penalty activists. The number of countries that have not abolished or imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in law or in practice has been shrinking. Under article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, countries that have not abolished the death penalty should reserve its use “only for the most serious crimes.” A group of United Nations human rights experts said in 2023 that drug offenses “clearly do not meet this threshold.”

A federal judge heard testimony Tuesday about what happened during the nation’s first two nitrogen gas executions, weighing whether to allow Alabama to use that method again next month to put an inmate to death. Attorneys for Carey Dale Grayson are asking a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction to block the prisoner's scheduled Nov. 21 execution with nitrogen gas.  The attorneys say Alabama officials must make changes to the procedure, adding in a court filing that state officials “have chosen to ignore clear and obvious signs the current protocol contains major problems.”

The Indiana Department of Correction has refused to disclose how much the state paid to acquire a new execution drug, pentobarbital, that could be used to carry out at least one death warrant before the end of the year. The agency officially denied the Indiana Capital Chronicle’s public record request Tuesday, citing a state law that makes information about the source of execution drugs confidential. Lawmakers made the code change on the last day of the 2017 legislative session but the statute does not mention cost.

At the Supreme Court Tuesday, a true crime drama that features a man who has been on death row for more than 25 years, always insisting he is innocent, and a conservative state attorney general in Oklahoma who agrees the prisoner got an unfair trial. Richard Glossip has had nine execution dates set over the years; he's eaten his last meal three times. He was tried twice and has had multiple appeals, including one that was heard by the Supreme Court involving the proposed method of execution. When the Supreme Court heard that case in 2015, Justice Samuel Alito made it clear that he viewed the appeal as nothing more than a stalling tactic, asking, "Is it appropriate for the judiciary to countenance what amounts to a guerrilla war against the death penalty?"