Death Penalty News

Marziyeh “Sevda” Ebrahimi Shamsabadi, a 33-year-old blogger from Bandar Abbas who has been detained since March, has been sentenced to death, according to information obtained by Iran International. Branch 3 of the Bandar Abbas Revolutionary Court convicted her on charges including insulting Iran's supreme leader, media and propaganda activity against national security, intelligence and security activity on behalf of hostile governments, and taking and sending photographs to Persian-language media abroad, according to the information.

Iran has executed at least 29 people arrested in connection with the widespread protests in January, more than half of whom were not accused of killing anyone, with some put to death in public in what rights groups describe as a campaign to deter further dissent. The findings are contained in a new joint report by Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran examining executions following the nationwide protests that erupted in late 2025 and January 2026.

Kneeling next to a ditch, deep in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, a 22-year-old woman draws her last breath in a 'desert court' before she is shot in the back with an AK-47. Her executioner? Likely her hardline militant husband, in what the Taliban consider an 'honour killing'.  It took less than an hour to decide Najiba had been adulterous – although it has been suggested this accusation was fabricated to protect her husband's reputation. Adultery is a crime that deserves capital punishment under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Sharia law. Fourteen years on from her death, little is known about her story, like many women slowly being erased from the fabric of Afghan society. 

Prosecutors sought the death penalty for singer and YouTuber A, who was brought to trial on charges of assaulting and neglecting his teenage biological daughter, causing her death. On the 10th, the criminal division 1 of the Changwon District Court Jinju Branch (Lee Seung-il Director General) sought the maximum sentence allowed by law, the death penalty, at the sentencing hearing for the 40-year-old A, who was detained and indicted on charges including murder.

The Ministry of Home Affairs says discussions with the Israeli government involved the sharing of best practices in emergency response, crime prevention, and forensics. Issues relating to the death penalty “were never part of the meeting and were not discussed."  SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sep 11) refuted claims by an Israeli media outlet that the death penalty was discussed during a visit by an Israeli delegation in May. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sep 7 that a delegation comprising representatives from the Israel Prison Service and National Security Ministry made a “secret visit” to Singapore that month.

Iranian authorities secretly executed three prisoners, including a Baloch man, in Isfahan Central Prison (Dastgerd Prison). The three had been sentenced to death in separate cases on drug-related charges. According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Mohammad Yousef Issazahi (Rigi), Shahrokh Pouresmaeili, and Hossein Ghasemzadeh were executed at dawn on Wednesday, September 9, 2026. Issazahi (Rigi), a 40-year-old Baloch man from Iranshahr, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, was married and the father of five children. He was arrested in Isfahan in 2022 on drug-related charges and subsequently sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.

In Florida’s 15th execution this year, man put to death for killing linked to ‘Hog Trail Murders’  A Florida man convicted in one of a series of suspected killings that became known as the “Hog Trail Murders” in the 1990s was put to death Thursday, becoming the state’s 15th person executed this year.  Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., 72, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. after receiving a 3-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He had been sentenced to die for the 1996 kidnapping and strangling of Richard Allen Montgomery, whose mutilated body was found in a wooded southwest Florida area where authorities found the remains of at least 6 people over a 3-year span.

Johnny Morales struggled to find sleep. He dozed off for a few moments, but officers came to his death row cell and woke him a little after midnight. They needed to inventory and box up his belongings. He was leaving San Quentin.  Hands cuffed behind his back, he walked across the empty upper yard in the dim gray hours before daylight. An officer walked alongside him step for step, black latex-gloved fingers holding onto Morales’s arm. For almost 20 years, Morales could only experience the world outside his 4-by-11 foot cell in the condemned housing unit like this—chained and escorted by officers. Security protocols required all death row residents be handcuffed or shackled any time they were out in open space with staff.

Muscat: Oman has enacted a new Law on Combating Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances under Royal Decree No. 67/2026, introducing severe penalties for drug trafficking, smuggling, possession and personal use, including the death penalty and life imprisonment in certain cases. Under the new law, importing, exporting, producing, or manufacturing narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances for the purpose of trafficking is punishable by imprisonment and a fine ranging from RO 35,000 to RO 60,000. The death penalty applies to drug smuggling carried out for the purpose of trafficking in specified aggravated circumstances, including repeat offences, abuse of official authority, licences or legal immunity, using a person lacking legal capacity or with diminished capacity, and participation in or cooperation with international gangs involved in drug smuggling.

His judgment also contained observations about alleged threats, pressure on the judiciary, and the influence of gangsters and mafia in western Uttar Pradesh MEERUT Additional district and sessions judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, while pronouncing his 23rd capital punishment in the last five months in a murder case on Monday (September 7), said in his verdict that he would prefer death to being called a “coward judge."

D4vd has been hit with a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of Celeste Rivas Hernández, opening a new legal front against the singer and several people and companies tied to him as he awaits trial on murder and child sexual abuse charges. Celeste’s parents, Mercedes Martinez and Jesus Rivas, filed the case in Los Angeles County Superior Court against D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, along with his mother, management company, finance manager, live-in security guard, and several businesses connected to his music career.

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.