Death Penalty News

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.

PARK CITY, Utah (DPN) — Kouri Richins, a Utah real estate agent who authored a children’s book about grief after her husband’s death, received a life sentence without the possibility of parole Wednesday for poisoning him with a fatal dose of fentanyl. Third District Judge Richard Mrazik imposed the maximum penalty on what would have been Eric Richins’ 44th birthday. Kouri Richins, 36, remained largely impassive as the judge delivered the ruling in a Park City courtroom.

Malaysia’s Court of Appeal has replaced the death sentence of a former college student convicted of murdering his pregnant girlfriend with 40 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane. PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA: Malaysia’s Court of Appeal has commuted the death sentence imposed on a former college student convicted of murdering his pregnant girlfriend, replacing it with 40 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane. A three-member bench chaired by Justice Azman Abdullah allowed the appeal by Fakrul Aiman Sajali on 14 May 2026 and substituted the death penalty handed down earlier by the High Court.

Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist factions systematically used sexual violence during the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel and against hostages held in Gaza , according to an Israeli civilian-led commission 's findings. The commission, formed in November 2023, said its two-year investigation concluded that "sexual violence was repeatedly carried out in a systematic manner throughout the attack and its aftermath." Hamas has consistently denied allegations of sexual assault. The report, titled "Silenced No More," was published Tuesday by the Civil Commission on Oct. 7 Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children , an independent panel established in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

SINGAPORE: Singapore's criminal justice policies are in accordance with international law, grounded in evidence and calibrated to its national context to protect citizens, the country's delegation told a session at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. This was in response to recommendations by several states calling for the suspension and abolition of the death penalty, said Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Singapore presented its approach on Tuesday (May 12) at its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) - a process which reviews the human rights records of all UN member states once every five years. This was Singapore's fourth UPR.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran has executed a man accused of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency, Tehran's judiciary said on Wednesday. Ehsan Afrashteh, 32, was arrested in 2024 and sentenced to death in 2025 on espionage charges. Mizan Online, which is affiliated with the Iranian judiciary, reported early Wednesday that Afrashteh had been executed. The outlet claimed that he was trained in Nepal by Mossad to work as a spy and had sold “sensitive national information” to Tel Aviv.

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband and was later found guilty of killing him finds out Wednesday how long she will spend in prison. Kouri Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing her husband’s cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. Prosecutors said Richins, a 35-year-old real estate agent with a house-flipping business, was millions in debt and planning a future with another man. She had opened numerous life insurance policies on her husband Eric Richins without his knowledge and falsely believed she would inherit his estate worth more than $4 million after he died.

Hengaw – Tuesday, May 12, 2026. Iranian authorities have secretly executed Baloch political prisoner Abduljalil Shahbakhsh at Zahedan Central Prison just 55 days after his arrest during the 40-day war involving Iran, Israel, and the United States. Shahbakhsh, from Taftan County in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, had been accused of “baghi” (armed rebellion) through alleged membership in Ansar al-Furqan, as well as espionage for Israel. Detailed information regarding his case remains limited. According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Shahbakhsh was executed at dawn on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, without prior notice to his family. Legal examination of the case indicates that the judicial process leading to his execution was carried out in complete opacity and accompanied by serious violations of fair trial standards, including denial of access to an independent lawyer throughout both interrogation and court proceedings.

The Louisiana Legislature on Monday made it easier for prosecutors to seek the death penalty, as the House signed off on a bill with last-minute amendments that have been cast as a response to the Mall of Louisiana shooting. House Bill 102, by state Rep. Jeff Wiley, R-Maurepas, now expands the definition of first-degree murder to include killings carried out in public places when the defendant puts at least three people at risk of great harm. It also adds killings committed by people with illegal firearms and by people out on bail, probation or parole.