Death Penalty News

Hua Hin Provincial Court has sentenced a man accused of killing and robbing a hotel employee in January to death, ruling that the crime was so serious and shocking that there were no grounds for leniency despite his guilty plea. The court handed down the sentence on Tuesday in a case involving the killing of a hotel employee during a robbery in Hua Hin district of Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

SACRAMENTO—Democrat Xavier Becerra defended the death penalty while serving as California’s attorney general, a punishment his office actively sought in the case of a gunman convicted of an Orange County mass shooting, but as the front-running candidate for governor, he has vowed to block executions if elected in November. Becerra said he will extend the blanket reprieve for all death row inmates that Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted by executive order in 2019, saying he supported “moving our state away from a costly, flawed system that disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities and too often gets it wrong.”

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Iranian authorities have reportedly executed an Afghan citizen, identified as Valijan Nourzay, at the central prison in Rafsanjan, according to the human rights organization Hengaw. Hengaw said in a statement on Sunday, September 6, that Nourzay was executed early Wednesday last week at Rafsanjan Central Prison. According to the organization, Nourzay had a severe mobility disability and was executed while in a wheelchair. Hengaw, citing informed sources, reported that Nourzay had been pursued by Iranian authorities three years ago over an alleged murder. He was reportedly seriously wounded after Iranian security forces opened fire on him in Rafsanjan before being arrested and later sentenced to death.

Sheriff Vic Regalado and Father Bryan Brooks, pastor at the Church of Saint Benedict, are two men of influence in Tulsa County. They live different lives—one enveloped in faith, the other elected to lead a law enforcement agency of more than 600. Both were brought together by the death penalty. The men believe it is their duty to support families of victims but land on different sides of the aisle when it comes to executions. Regalado is in support of the death penalty, saying it is part of the criminal justice system and brings closure to the families of murder victims. 

Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s relatives speak out on the eve of her 16th birthday, revealing what justice should look like for the singer accused of her murder. On what would have been Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s 16th birthday, her family delivered a chilling message about the man accused of killing her. Relatives of the 14-year-old say they back the harshest possible sentence for singer D4vd, real name David Anthony Burke, should he be convicted of her murder. The timing was hard to ignore. Instead of marking a milestone birthday, Celeste’s loved ones spent the day publicly weighing in on the fate of the man accused of ending her life before it truly began, a detail that has only intensified attention on an already high-profile case.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 5 September 2026: At least 82 people were executed in August 2026, including 40 for murder, 34 for drug-related offences and eight for security-related charges. Amongst those executed were six women, marking the highest monthly total recorded for female executions in 2026. Three protesters arrested in connection with the January nationwide protests were also amongst those executed. In the first eight months of 2026, IHRNGO has recorded 528 executions, including 18 women, 20 foreign nationals and 91 ethnic minorities. The 2026 executions also include 31 protesters (29 from the January protests and two from “Woman, Life, Freedom”), 13 political prisoners affiliated with banned opposition groups and 14 espionage defendants.

In the aftermath of the 12-Day War between Iran and Israel, followed by the concurrent military conflict involving the United States, Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iran’s penal statutes have undergone severe tightening. New criminal offenses have been added to statutory regulations, broadening the scope of criminally prosecutable acts and introducing significantly harsher penalties for existing security offenses. The majority of execution sentences handed down during this timeframe have not been made available to the public, nor have the executions been officially announced. However, based on official statements by judicial authorities, a substantial portion of recent executions was carried out under legislation passed following the 12-Day War.

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.