Death Penalty News

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has refused to scrap hanging as the method of executing the death penalty, but said the issue can be looked at again if new scientific or medical evidence shows that another method causes less pain. The court also said the Centre can set up an expert panel to examine whether another method of execution would reduce pain and protect the dignity of death row prisoners. Why was a plea filed against hanging as a method of execution? The petition was filed by senior advocate Rishi Malhotra, who challenged the law that provides for hanging as the method of executing a death sentence, according to a LiveLaw report. Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure says that a person sentenced to death should be "hanged by the neck till he is dead." Malhotra's plea sought to replace hanging with other methods, including lethal injection, shooting, electrocution or a gas chamber. He argued that hanging can cause prolonged pain and suffering and violates...

Starting next summer, Georgia’s highest court will no longer routinely hear appeals in murder cases. The decision was announced Thursday as part of a concurring opinion from Chief Justice Nels Peterson that was tied to a murder case out of Fulton County, Coleman v. The State , though it was not clear why Peterson’s opinion was attached to that case. Murder conviction appeals, which account for more than half of the Georgia Supreme Court’s published cases, will be heard in the Georgia Court of Appeals starting July 2027.

Iranian authorities have executed Mohammad Afrookhteh, a Baloch prisoner from Sib and Suran, and Mohammad Yousefi Azad, from Eslamshahr, in separate cases at Zahedan and Zanjan central prisons. According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Mohammad (Cheragh) Afrookhteh, 30, was executed at Zahedan Central Prison in the early hours of Sunday, August 16, 2026. Informed sources said Afrookhteh had been arrested three years earlier on charges of “premeditated murder” and was subsequently sentenced to death.

Hengaw – Sunday, August 16, 2026-- Iranian authorities executed Shahram Sadeghi, who was arrested in connection with the January 2026 protests, at a prison in Karaj, Alborz province. Mizan, the Iranian judiciary’s official news agency, reported that Sadeghi was executed at dawn on August 16, 2026, but did not specify the prison where the execution took place. The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has learned that Sadeghi’s case was heard by the Karaj Revolutionary Court, which sentenced him to death and ordered the confiscation of all his property on the charge of “operational activities in support of Israel, the United States, and hostile groups and countries,” under Article 1 of Iran’s law on increased punishment for espionage and cooperation with Israel and hostile states against national security and interests.

Tennessee and Oklahoma have put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men in one day. Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985, and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death Thursday evening for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country.  Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.  He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument.  Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said. 

The state has spent millions of dollars over decades to execute a seriously ill man who was already incarcerated. The state of Tennessee executed death row inmate Darrell Hines Thursday morning, according to an advocacy group.  No formal announcement of the execution has been issued by state leaders yet. The execution was slated for 10 a.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. [DPN update] Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. His last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and sweet tea.

Barring any last-minute interventions, the Tennessee Department of Correction will execute Anthony Darrell Hines by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Thursday morning. This week, two courts had the opportunity to halt the execution: the federal court in Middle Tennessee and the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday he personally would not prevent the execution. “After deliberate consideration of Anthony Darrell Hines’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene,” he said in a written statement. The U.S. Supreme Court has not granted a stay or reprieve.

The Iranian regime is increasingly using death sentences, corporal punishment, and judicial persecution against women—not only to silence dissent but also to intimidate a society demanding change. The Iranian regime has long viewed women as central to the country’s struggle for freedom—and therefore as central targets of repression. The nationwide uprising of 2022 fundamentally altered the political landscape, demonstrating that Iranian women were no longer merely participants in protest movements but among their principal organizers and symbols. Since then, the authorities have steadily intensified their campaign against women, expanding the use of executions, imprisonment, corporal punishment, and judicial intimidation.

Iranian authorities executed at least three prisoners, including two Turks, identified as Amrollah Dousti, Hojjat Khayat, and Yousef Bagheri, in Tabriz and Zanjan Central Prisons. Dousti and Khayat were executed on drug-related charges, while Bagheri was executed for “premeditated murder.” According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Dousti, 40, from Bandar Abbas and a father of two, and Khayat, 51, from Tabriz and a father of three, were executed in Tabriz Central Prison on Sunday, August 9, 2026.

Lebanon’s parliament on Tuesday abolished the death penalty, making it the first country in the Middle East to replace capital punishment with a sentence of life imprisonment with hard labour.  The majority of Lebanon's 128-member parliament voted in favour of ending the death penalty, with the exception of the parliamentary bloc of Hezbollah.  Justice Minister Adel Nassar called the abolition "historic," adding that the spectre of capital punishment had previously prevented Beirut from obtaining the extradition of suspects from countries where it has been outlawed.

Alabama is preparing to execute Jeremy Williams, who pled guilty to the 2021 rape and murder of five-year-old Kamarie Holland.  The execution is scheduled for Thursday (August 13) at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.  Williams, who is 41, requested the death penalty and waived his right to appeal, making this the first execution in Alabama this year.

Kolthum Akbari, an Iranian woman widely dubbed the “Black Widow,” was convicted of serial murders of elderly men she married, often temporarily. Official accounts generally center on 11 murders (plus one attempted murder), though Akbari herself gave varying figures and investigations suggested she had many more marriages.  The sentencing occurred primarily in September 2025 in Mazandaran Province, with ongoing reporting and updates into 2026. The 56- to 59-year-old killer confessed to killing at least 11 elderly men after temporarily or officially marrying them; Iranian authorities have linked her to additional marriages and possible further victims.

DAMASCUS, Syria (DPN)— A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced former President Bashar Assad and his younger brother, Maher Assad, to death in absentia for premeditated murder of multiple people including children; torture; arbitrary detention, and crimes against humanity committed during Syria’s conflict. The Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus also sentenced Atef Najib, Assad’s maternal cousin and former head of Political Security in the southern province of Daraa, to death. Najib appeared in court wearing a prisoner’s uniform and standing inside a cage as the judge read the sentence. The court ordered that Bashar and Maher Assad be pursued internationally.

The signatories plan to submit the petition, which was opened on July 20, to the district court ahead of a hearing on Aug. 31. More than 47,000 people have signed a petition calling for the death penalty for Jang Yun-gi, who allegedly murdered a high schooler in Gwangju, according to a local memorial advocacy group on Tuesday. The online petition, first posted on July 20, has garnered a total of 47,268 signatories as of Monday. The petition was prepared by a group with a name that translates roughly to Gwangju-Jeonnam Memorial Solidarity and the family of the 16-year-old girl who was killed.

Iranian authorities executed Marzieh Nayeri, a 24-year-old woman who had been forced into marriage as a child, at Qazvin Central Prison, also known as Choubindar Prison. She had been sentenced to death for the murder of her husband. According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Nayeri was executed at dawn on Aug. 8, 2026, at Qazvin Central Prison. Sources familiar with the case said that in late September 2021, when Nayeri was 18, a business associate of her husband named Alireza attempted to sexually assault her after consuming alcohol in the presence of her husband. Nayeri injured the man with a kitchen knife while defending herself and subsequently killed her husband. After four days in hiding, she sought refuge with her brother, who later turned her over to police.

Nearly 100 prominent Iranians, including artists and filmmakers, have been summoned by security agencies or judicial authorities after speaking out against a new wave of executions, particularly the public hanging of protesters in Isfahan, a rights activist said. More than 20 of those summoned were well-known film and television actors, civil rights activist Mehdi Mahmoudian reported Saturday on his Telegram channel Khabaraneha. The report said those targeted had been among public figures posting against the executions under the hashtag “No to executions.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued execution reprieves for three death row inmates on Friday. In a statement, DeWine said he issued reprieves for Keith LaMar, Scott Group, and Davel Chinn, all of whom were set to be executed early next year. LaMar was scheduled to be executed on Jan. 13, 2027. He was convicted of aggravated murder for the deaths of five inmates during a 1993 riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville. He received the death penalty for four of the killings. His new execution date is Jan. 13, 2030. Watch the latest NBC4 headlines in the video player above.