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Vietnam | Factory worker sentenced to death for murdering coffee shop owner during robbery

A court in Tay Ninh Province, southern Vietnam has sentenced a 23-year-old factory worker to death for murdering a roadside coffee shop owner during a robbery last year. Tran Van Quy, from Cai Doi Vam Commune, southern Ca Mau Province, was convicted of murder at a first-instance trial held by the Tay Ninh People’s Court on Wednesday. According to the indictment, Quy had been living with his wife’s parents in Tay Ninh while working as a factory laborer. Mounting debts and financial difficulties drove him to plan a robbery.

Florida | Leesburg man faces death penalty in child sex battery case

A 41-year-old Leesburg man could face the death penalty after a grand jury indicted him on 47 felony charges, including 12 counts of sexual battery on a child younger than 12. Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson announced the indictment of Schubert Navarroza Macarat on May 27 and confirmed his office has filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty should Macarat be found guilty. The charges stem from an investigation that began on the evening of March 22. Lake County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a call regarding a past sexual offense, where a caller reported that a child had just disclosed long-term, ongoing sexual abuse.

California inmate sentenced to death for 1983 rape, killing dies

Richard R. Ramirez, who was sentenced to death for the 1983 rape and murder of a 22-year-old bank teller in Garden Grove, died in prison at age 66 on Sunday, May 24, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. He died at a medical facility, authorities said, with his cause of death to be determined by the San Joaquin County coroner’s office. He was not the Night Stalker, who shared the same first and last names and was convicted of 13 murders and 30 other crimes committed up and down the state in the mid-1980s. That Richard Ramirez, also condemned to death, died in 2013 of natural causes.

The 3 Body Problem Netflix Poison Plot: China Executes Former Gaming Exec Over Billionaire's Murder Case

The case of Lin Qi's murder by poisoning highlights corporate rivalry and the high stakes of intellectual property rights. The execution of a former Chinese gaming executive and lawyer convicted of poisoning billionaire entrepreneur Lin Qi has reignited attention around one of China's most shocking corporate murder cases, linked to the global Netflix hit 3 Body Problem . Chinese authorities confirmed that Xu Yao was executed on 21 May 2026 after being found guilty of murdering Lin, founder of gaming company Yoozoo Games, through poisoning in late 2020. Lin died on Christmas Day that year at the age of 39 after reportedly suffering acute symptoms following the consumption of poisoned food.

Iran | Executions in Mahabad, Rasht

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 26 May 2026: Abdolghader Rasouli, a Kurdish man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Mahabad Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Mahabad Prison on 25 May 2026. His identity has been established as Abdolghader Rasouli, a Kurdish father of two from Mahabad. He was arrested around four years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

Iran executes ex-MMA champion on charges of spying for Israel

Iran Human RIghts (IHRNGO); 26 May 2026: State media reported the execution of Gholamreza Khani Shekarab, a man accused of intelligence cooperation and espionage for Israel. IHRNGO has established the location of his execution as Ghezel Hesar Prison. Thus far in 2026, at least ten people have been hanged for alleged espionage and collaboration with Israel, while two others have been executed for spying on behalf of an unidentified Arab country.

Iran | Toomaj Salehi: Execution of Ekbatan Protesters is Against Humanity

Toomaj Salehi, a former political prisoner and protest artist, has condemned the death sentences handed down to four defendants in the “Ekbatan” case, calling them “unjust and against humanity.” Writing on his official account on the social media platform X, he stated: “I am writing these words at a time when freedom of expression and media freedom, which we never truly had to begin with, have been suppressed in the most severe manner possible under the pretext of war, while poverty rains down upon the people from both earth and sky.”

Iran sentences alleged Mossad operative to death over sabotage network claims

An Iranian court has sentenced a man identified by state media as a senior Mossad-linked operative to death. According to Fars News Agency, the judiciary said Gholamreza Khani Shekarab acted as an external coordinator for an alleged intelligence network that operated inside Iran, directing what authorities described as sabotage activities across several provinces, News.Az reports. State media reported that the network was involved in efforts to create insecurity, spread fear, disrupt public order and essential services, and carry out propaganda operations in favour of hostile actors. It also alleged involvement in targeted assassination plots.

Iran | Four 'Woman, Life, Freedom' Protesters Sentenced to Hang by 'Death Judge' in Sham Trial

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 25 May 2026: Milad Armoun, Navid Najaran, Seyed Mohammad Mehdi Hosseini and Mehdi Imani, four “Woman, Life, Freedom” protesters, were sentenced to death by “Death Judge” Salavati after a grossly unfair trial. Defence counsel representing the defendants in what became known as the “Ekbatan case” have detailed the severe procedural and substantive flaws that violated fundamental due process rights and undermined the legitimacy of the rulings issued by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court. News of the judgement comes just days after the Criminal Court acquitted the defendants of murder charges.

Iran executes Esma Zarei in Ardabil Prison after she gave birth in custody

Hengaw – Saturday, May 23, 2026. Iranian authorities have executed Esma Zarei, a 28-year-old Turkish woman from Parsabad in Ardabil Province, who had previously been sentenced to death on charges of “premeditated murder” in connection with the killing of her husband. She is the sixth woman executed in Iran since the beginning of 2026. According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Zarei was executed at dawn on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, in Ardabil Central Prison. She had been sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) after being convicted of her husband’s murder.

Iran executes man over nationwide protests

Iran executed a man on Monday who had been convicted of carrying out armed attacks during the statewide anti-government rallies that peaked in January, the judiciary announced. Abbas Akbari’s execution is the latest in a series of executions by the Islamic Republic, which increased hangings in security-related cases following the commencement of war with Israel and the US on February 28. “Abbas Akbari… was hanged this morning,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported, describing him as “one of the armed leaders” during protests in the central province of Isfahan.

“It’s Overwhelming but It’s Amazing”: Richard Glossip Released From Jail After Three Decades

After nine execution dates, three last meals, and a Supreme Court ruling in his favor, Richard Glossip should soon walk free. Three decades after he was arrested for a capital crime he swore he didn’t commit — and more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction — former death row prisoner Richard Glossip was granted bond by an Oklahoma judge and released from jail. In an order handed down on Thursday, Oklahoma County District Judge Natalie Mai set Glossip’s bond at $500,000. She ordered him to live with his wife, wear an electronic monitoring device, and abide by a curfew from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., and forbade him from traveling outside the state.

EU GSP+ Reform: Will Brussels Finally Enforce Its Own Conditions on Pakistan?

The EU has tightened the rules governing GSP+ trade preferences, but Pakistan’s record raises a harder question: whether Brussels is prepared to suspend market access when a major beneficiary fails to demonstrate sustained compliance with human rights, labour and governance obligations. The European Union has formally adopted revised rules for its Generalised Scheme of Preferences, strengthening the conditions attached to preferential market access for developing countries. The new framework will apply from 1 January 2027 and is intended to tighten monitoring, widen the list of international conventions, and make suspension of benefits easier in cases of serious violations.

Tennessee | Questions Raised About the Doctor Who Was Overseeing Tony Caruthers’ Execution

Mark Fowler, according to a deposition, had not placed a central line in a patient for more than a decade when he attempted to put one in Carruthers Around 11 a.m. Thursday morning in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, a medical doctor stepped in and attempted to place a central IV line in Tony Carruthers’ chest. By that point, the prison staff had spent some 30 minutes trying unsuccessfully to insert a backup IV line that would allow them to proceed with the lethal injection. According to Carruthers’ attorney Maria DeLiberato, who was in the room, after asking a staff member to attempt inserting a line through Carruthers’ jugular vein, the doctor moved on to the central line, which is identified as the last resort in Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol .

Iran | Young Man at Risk of Execution for "Espionage for Israel, Mossad"

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 21 May 2026: Gholamreza Khani Shekarab, a man on death row for accusations of espionage for Israel, is at risk of execution after being transferred to the solitary confinement cells of Ghezel Hesar Prison from Evin Prison. According to information obtained by IHRNGO, Gholamreza Khani Shekarab was transferred from Evin Prison to the solitary confinement cells of Ghezel Hesar Prison on 7 May 2026. Given that prisoners are typically transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison for execution, the transfer has raised grave concerns that his execution may be imminent.

Florida | Jury recommends death for Otto Lenke, judge to make final call

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A St. Lucie County jury recommended the death penalty for Otto Lenke on Thursday in the penalty phase of his first-degree murder trial, though the final decision rests with the judge. Lenke, 66, a former Melbourne police officer and Indian River County firefighter , was convicted earlier this month of first-degree murder and first-degree arson in the Feb. 17, 2021, killing of Richard Benson at Fast Frank’s Custom Cycle Components, Benson’s motorcycle repair shop in Fort Pierce . Prosecutors said Lenke shot Benson multiple times inside the shop, then poured a flammable liquid on him and set him on fire while he was still alive. Surveillance video from the shop captured the attack.

US supreme court dismisses Alabama’s bid to execute intellectually disabled man

Court throws out state’s challenge to judicial finding that inmate convicted of murder is ineligible for death penalty The US supreme court on Thursday threw out a challenge by the state of Alabama to a judicial finding that a death row inmate convicted of a 1997 murder is intellectually disabled and thus ineligible under the US constitution for the death penalty. In this highly unusual move, and in a single-sentence, unsigned order, the court dismissed Alabama’s petition for review in Hamm v Smith without deciding it, effectively undoing its earlier decision to take up an appeal by state officials to the method used by a lower court to determine that Joseph Clifton Smith was intellectually disabled and therefore could not be executed.

Florida executes Richard Knight

Man convicted of killing a woman and her 4-year-old daughter is executed in Florida A Florida man convicted of fatally stabbing his cousin’s girlfriend and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter was put to death Thursday evening, becoming the 7th person executed by the state this year. Richard Knight, 47, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Knight was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the June 2002 killings of Odessia Stephens and her daughter, Hanessia Mullings. The curtain of the death chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6:00 p.m. execution time. Knight was already strapped down with his arms extended and an IV line in place.

Tennessee fails to execute Tony Carruthers after IV difficulties. State won't try again for a year

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee officials on Thursday called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, after his executioners tried and failed for over an hour to establish an intravenous line. Gov. Bill Lee announced soon afterward that the state would not try again for at least a year. In a written statement, the Tennessee Department of Corrections said medical personnel had quickly established a primary IV line but were unable to find a suitable vein for a backup line as required by the state’s execution protocol. Efforts to insert a central line also failed, and officials called off the execution.