Death Penalty News

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 6 September 2026: Reza Salimi, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Semnan Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Semnan Central Prison on 5 September 2026. His identity has been established as 27-year-old Reza Salimi from Semnan. He was arrested for the murder of his friend around five years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) by the Criminal Court. At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Egyptian television presenter Sarah Khalifa and 11 others have been sentenced to death by hanging after being convicted of drug trafficking and rape, while nine defendants received life sentences and seven were acquitted. Egyptian television presenter Sarah Khalifa, 39, has been sentenced to death by hanging along with 11 other defendants after being found guilty in a drugs case involving a criminal gang accused of importing ingredients used to manufacture narcotics for sale.

Ask anybody what a “death sentence” in India actually means, and the honest answer is that it can mean three quite different things. It can mean the noose—hanging by the neck until death; it can mean permanent confinement in jail—a term the courts now call imprisonment for the remainder of one’s natural life, and, far more often than either of the first two, it can simply mean delay in delivery of justice—a death sentence that is neither carried out nor commuted, waiting for completion of investigation, trial before the sessions court, hearing of a confirmation proceeding in a high court, appeal against conviction in the Supreme Court, or hearing of a mercy petition nobody has decided for years, sometimes for decades, until age or illness does what the state never got around to doing itself.

In August 2026, the human rights situation in Iran witnessed a catastrophic deterioration. According to data compiled by Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM), a total of 92 executions were documented during this month, reflecting an alarming surge in the clerical regime’s use of the death penalty to stifle dissent. Of these 92 executions, 85 were carried out secretly without any official announcement by the judiciary or state media, while only seven executions, including that of one woman, were officially acknowledged. 

Trooper Bob Martin was killed during a traffic stop on the Beeline highway; execution for his killer could be as soon as January PHOENIX (AZFamily)—The Arizona Attorney General is asking for an execution date to be set for a man convicted in the killing of an Arizona State Trooper over 30 years ago. On Aug. 15, 1995, Trooper Bob Martin was shot and killed while performing a traffic stop along the Beeline Highway.

The rulings come as Vietnam considers changes to its use of the death penalty. Last month, the government proposed abolishing the death penalty for six crimes, including drug trafficking, as part of changes to the penal code. However, the proposed changes have not yet come into force. A court in Vietnam has sentenced 11 people to death in one of the country's largest drug trafficking cases, following an investigation that began when four flight attendants were caught with narcotics hidden in toothpaste tubes in 2023, state media reported.

Former Kansas corrections officials are urging Governor Laura Kelly to grant clemency to the state's death row inmates. Former Kansas Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz has several reasons why he thinks the state should abolish the death penalty. Werholtz, who served as secretary from 2002 to 2010 and returned on an interim basis in 2019, uses his discussions with peers and family members of victims as well as experiences of seeing wrongly convicted people getting exonerated as his guiding points.

Iranian authorities executed Ali Mirzaei and Aziz Roshanayi, who had been sentenced to death in separate murder cases, at Babol Central Prison and Shiraz Central Prison (Adelabad Prison), respectively. According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Mirzaei, a singer from Babol, was executed at dawn on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at Babol Central Prison in Mazandaran Province.

September 3, 2026: A widening crackdown on Christians in Iran has reportedly resulted in the deaths of at least 33 Christian ministers and the detention of more than 130 others in recent months, according to Iran Alive Ministries, a Texas-based organisation supporting underground house churches in the country. Hormoz Shariat, founder of Iran Alive Ministries, told Baptist Press that at least 33 Christian ministers associated with the ministry had been killed amid intensified government pressure on Christians linked to the underground church movement.

Florida state officials executed 74-year-old Harold Gene Lucas by lethal injection on Tuesday evening, concluding a 50-year legal saga stemming from the 1976 murder of a 16-year-old girl in Bonita Springs. STARKE, Fla. -- A man convicted of killing a teenage girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends was put to death Tuesday in the first of three executions planned this month in Florida. Harold Gene Lucas, 74, was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, authorities said. He was sentenced to death for the 1976 shooting attack on Jill Piper and the wounding of her friends, Richard Byrd Jr. and Terri Rice.

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida man convicted of fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends is set to be executed Tuesday in the first of three lethal injections scheduled this month in the state. Harold Gene Lucas, 74, is set to receive a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke starting at 6 p.m. He would be the 14th prisoner put to death this year in Florida, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has already signed death warrants for two more executions set for later this September.

D4vd is being represented by a public defender after his lawyers withdrew. LOS ANGELES -- Singer D4vd is now being represented by a public defender after his lawyers withdrew from his case Monday ahead of his second arraignment on murder and other charges connected to the death of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in the trunk of his Tesla.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 29 August 2026: Yavar Alizadeh, Hossein Khalilian, Mojtaba Vahedi and Davod Tarkhan were executed in a group hanging in Tabriz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were hanged in Tabriz Central Prison on 29 August 2026. Two of the men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for separate murders by the Criminal Court. Their identities have been established as Yavar Alizadeh, a 28-year-old welder, and Hossein Khalilian, a 40-year-old florist. Yavar was arrested four years ago, and Hossein was arrested for the murder of his cousin seven years ago.

Singer D4vd is set to be arraigned on charges including murder in downtown Los Angeles on Monday in connection with last year's killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez as the high-profile case progresses to a trial. The 21-year-old, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, has previously pleaded not guilty to the charges. LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman is set to speak to reporters after the hearing. Hochman has previously stated that his office is working to determine whether it'll pursue the death penalty should Burke be convicted.

According to rights groups' claims, more than 500 people have been killed by the regime since the protests erupted in January. Ten individuals accused of participating in the January protests have been sentenced to death, while another six received prison sentences of up to 25 years, according to Iranian media reports on Sunday. The sentences were handed down by Judges Morteza Barati and Mohammadreza Tavakoli of Branch 1 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court, according to the Iran Human Rights Society, an independent advocacy group and information network.

South Korean prosecutors have asked the court to sentence 23-year-old Jang Yun-gi to death. He is accused of murdering 17-year-old schoolgirl Lee Chae-won in the city of Gwangju.  The Gwangju District Court is due to announce its verdict in the case on September 30, Korea Herald reports. Details of the charges According to the prosecution, on May 5, Jang attempted to abduct Lee Chae-won in order to sexually assault her and then fatally stabbed her as she was returning home. 

Iranian authorities have executed at least two prisoners, identified as Shafi Shokati and Ali Zibaei, at Shiraz Central Prison (Adelabad Prison) and Semnan Central Prison. The two men had been sentenced to death in separate cases involving murder and drug-related charges. According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Shafi Shokati, a 39-year-old Baloch man and father of four, was executed at Shiraz Central Prison at dawn on August 24, 2026.

The president has raised the possibility that some of the fires may have been criminally set and ordered authorities to investigate their causes and identify those responsible. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has ordered amendments to the country’s penal code to allow the death penalty to be carried out against people convicted of deliberately setting forest fires, after a wave of devastating blazes killed 12 people and caused extensive damage across the country.

The court’s decision came a little more than two months after Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita asked the justices to schedule Weisheit’s execution. State attorneys argued Weisheit had exhausted his state and federal appeals, had no active stay of execution, and could lawfully be put to death. The inmate’s attorneys opposed setting a date, saying they needed more time to pursue available legal proceedings and possible executive clemency. The defense additionally pointed to public records that it said showed the Indiana Department of Correction lacked the drugs needed to conduct an execution and had no lawful source from which to obtain them.