Death Penalty News

On May 13, the Ministry of Justice published an appraisal document for the policy dossier of the draft amended Penal Code prepared by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). In a significant shift, the MPS has proposed reducing the number of crimes punishable by death in Việt Nam from 10 to 2.  The Details: Under the proposal, capital punishment would be retained only for murder under Article 123 and for the rape of a person under 16 under Article 142.  The stated goal is to meet international standards to which Việt Nam is a party. Notably, drug-related crimes would be exempt from capital punishment, even though they currently account for nearly 85% of death sentences. 

Hengaw – Tuesday, May 19, 2026—Iranian authorities executed a prisoner from Shiraz identified as Saeid Rahmanirad, who had previously been sentenced to death on charges of premeditated murder by the Iranian judiciary, at Adelabad Prison in Shiraz. According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the execution was carried out at dawn on Sunday, May 17, 2026, at Shiraz Central Prison, commonly known as Adelabad Prison. Rahmanirad, 30, had been convicted of “premeditated murder” by the Iranian judiciary.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorneys are questioning a statement from the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office about his fate after a retrial. Murdaugh, who was convicted in 2023 of killing his wife and son, was granted a new trial by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Attorney General Alan Wilson issued a statement saying, ”In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, we’re back to square one on this case, and that means all our legal options are on the table, including the death penalty." Murdaugh’s lawyers held a press conference on Monday to discuss a related federal lawsuit he has filed against the former Colleton County clerk of court. “I had hoped that would have been the main topic of this press conference, but over the weekend we learned that the Attorney General has announced he’s considering the death penalty in this case,” attorney Dick Harpootlian said. “Clearly, he is not talking to the lawyers in his office. He’s probably talking to his ...

2,707 executions worldwide in 2025, a record for over 40 years. Every year, Amnesty International releases a report detailing the use of the death penalty from the previous year. In this year’s report, there was a staggering rise in executions and death sentences, carried out by a handful of governments determined to rule by fear. Here, we provide the details on the main findings from the report, at a global and regional level.

Amnesty International Malaysia, however, says that without full abolition, Malaysia remains with the minority of countries still holding on to an unjust and irreversible punishment. PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s judicial reforms have led to a clear decline in the use of the death penalty, with only 15 new death sentences recorded in 2025, although Amnesty International Malaysia says full abolition remains a distant goal. The rights group said Malaysian courts imposed 15 death sentences in 2025, down from 24 in 2024 and 38 in 2023, following the abolition of the mandatory death penalty.

The line is crackly. But the voice of Mehrab Abdollahzadeh is clear and, given the circumstances, surprisingly steady. He's on death row in western Iran. He speaks quickly - as if time is running out. And his message is desperate. "You are hearing my voice from Oromiyeh Central Prison, and this may be the last time you hear it," he says in a voice note obtained by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network.

Freedom for Richard Glossip cost $50,000. It also cost 29 years of his life. The former death row inmate convicted of murdering the owner of the motel he managed walked out of jail Thursday for the first time since 1997, after 10% of his $500,000 bond was paid by celebrity and criminal reform advocate Kim Kardashian, her publicist told The Oklahoman. As Glossip’s case stretched on, the documentary “ Killing Richard Glossip ” raised many questions about his convictions – and the eyebrows of Republicans in Oklahoma’s government, including supporters of capital punishment. “Considering the facts we uncovered, and that there exists no physical forensic evidence or credible corroborating testimony linking Glossip to the crime, our conclusion is that no reasonable juror hearing the complete record would have convicted Richard Glossip of first‐degree murder,” said the law firm of Reed Smith after interviewing three dozen witnesses and reviewing more than 145,000 pages of evidence.

The death penalty law for West Bank Palestinians convicted of deadly acts of terrorism came into effect Sunday night, after the commander of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen Avi Bluth, signed the military order necessary to enact the measure in the territory. The order requires that a military court presiding over the prosecution of terrorists whose attacks resulted in the death of a victim apply the death penalty alone as the only available sentence, unless the court finds special circumstances allowing for life imprisonment. Following the passage of the legislation at the end of March, Defense Minister Israel Katz requested that Bluth approve the military order, which he did on Sunday.

A division bench of the Lahore High Court at Rawalpindi dismissed the appeal and upheld the death sentence of Rizwan Habib, who was convicted of the brutal murder of his former wife, US citizen Wajiha Swati, in a case involving a property dispute over assets worth around Rs1 billion that took place in Rawalpindi. The High Court remarked that the convict perpetrated a vile crime, thus justifying the death sentence. The division bench of the Lahore High Court included Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan and Justice Tanveer Sheikh.

Alan Wilson said prosecutors are “back to square one” and all legal options are on the table. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Friday that his office may pursue the death penalty when it retries Alex Murdaugh in the 2021 murder of his son and wife. “In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, we’re back to square one on this case, and that means all our legal options are on the table, including the death penalty,” Wilson said. The state’s high court reversed Murdaugh’s double murder conviction in an opinion published Wednesday that accused a former court clerk of “egregious” jury interference.

Prosecutors said Friday that they will seek the death penalty for a Chicago man charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers in the US capital last year. Elias Rodriguez was arrested immediately after the May 21 shooting of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and his fiancee, Sarah Milgrim, 26, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a court filing that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Rodriguez, who faces murder, firearms and hate crime charges.  "Rodriguez's actions were motivated by political, ideological, national, and religious bias, contempt, and hatred," Pirro said.

The Florida Attorney General's Office has still not responded to the defense's request for a review of the case, which was filed almost eight months ago. The family of Pablo Ibar has publicly expressed its outrage at the lack of response from the Broward County District Attorney's Office in Florida to their request for a review of the case, filed almost eight months ago by the defense of the Spanish-born prisoner, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for a triple murder committed in 1994 in Miramar, near Miami. The defense denounces unjustified delays in responding to the review request, while the Pablo Ibar-Fair Trial Association has reactivated its fundraising campaign. They allege that the prosecution has twice failed to meet the deadline set by the judge for issuing its ruling.

Iranian authorities have executed a prisoner identified as Eghbal Arghandeh in Karaj Central Prison. He had previously been sentenced to death on charges of “premeditated murder.” According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the execution of 30-year-old Eghbal Arghandeh was carried out at dawn on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in Karaj Central Prison. Sources told Hengaw that Arghandeh had been arrested approximately six years ago in connection with a fatal street altercation and was later sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary.

Former Oklahoma death row prisoner Richard Glossip was released from incarceration for the first time in nearly 30 years Thursday after posting bond while awaiting retrial for a 1997 killing that put him on the brink of execution three separate times. Glossip wore a gray short-sleeved shirt and jeans as he walked out of the jail hand-in-hand with his wife, Lea Glossip. “I’m just thankful for my wife and my attorneys. Just thankful,” he said. “It’s overwhelming, but it’s amazing at the same time.”

Texas puts man to death for a retired professor's killing in its 600th execution since 1982  A man who experts for both prosecutors and defense attorneys had said was intellectually disabled became the 600th person executed in Texas since 1982, put to death Thursday evening for the killing of a retired 77-year-old college professor.  Edward Busby Jr. was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. local time following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, hours after a divided Supreme Court lifted a stay over his disabilities claims. The execution followed a series of last-minute legal efforts by Busby's attorneys in a bid to spare his life after the nation’s high court lifted a stay hours earlier.

Richard Glossip will be released from jail while he awaits a new trial in the 1997 Oklahoma City motel murder case. OKLAHOMA CITY -UPDATE: An Oklahoma County judge has granted a request for bail for former Death Row inmate Richard Glossip. In a ruling on Thursday, a judge ruled that bail for Glossip would be granted while the state prepares to retry him for the 1997 murder of Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese. Glossip spent more than 20 years on death row before his conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2025, which found he did not receive a fair trial. He has remained in the Oklahoma County Jail while the case moves toward a retrial.

Oklahoma executed a death row inmate by lethal injection on Thursday morning. The inmate had been convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and her baby almost two decades ago.  Raymond Johnson, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. Thursday following a three-drug injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, prison officials said. He was sentenced to death for killing 24-year-old Brooke Whitaker and her 7-month-old daughter, Kya, in June 2007. Johnson was the 11th person executed in the United States so far this year, and the second executed in Oklahoma. Another Oklahoma inmate, Kendrick Simpson, received a lethal injection in February for the drive-by shooting deaths of two men in 2006. Florida has carried out five executions since January, more executions than any other state.

A judge is expected to decide whether Richard Glossip will be released from jail while he awaits a new trial in the 1997 Oklahoma City motel murder case. OKLAHOMA CITY -Former death row inmate Richard Glossip could learn as soon as today whether he will be released on bond while he awaits a new trial in Oklahoma County. A judge in Oklahoma City is expected to issue a ruling later today on whether Glossip will be granted bond after spending decades in custody tied to the 1997 killing of motel owner Barry Van Treese.

The South Carolina Supreme Court has unanimously ruled to overturn the 2023 double murder conviction of disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh. In its 27-page, 5-0 ruling issued on Wednesday, the court determined that jury tampering by former Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill denied Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury.  Murdaugh’s case will now return to circuit court, where he is eligible for a new trial. He stands accused of killing his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, at the family’s rural estate in Colleton County on the evening of June 7, 2021.