Death Penalty News

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As Florida accelerates executions at a pace unseen in modern history, multiple death row prisoners with execution dates this month have filed claims with the Florida Supreme Court raising serious concerns about the State’s repeated failure to follow its own execution protocol. Courts have long held that under the Eighth Amendment, execution protocols must be followed precisely because deviations create a substantial risk of severe pain and unconstitutional punishment.

HRANA – At dawn today, February 3, the death sentences of 15 prisoners, previously convicted on charges related to drug offenses and murder, were carried out in the prisons of Sirjan, Rasht, Yazd, Ahvaz, Jiroft, Borazjan, Ilam, Khaf, Bam, Birjand, Lahijan, Mahabad, Sabzevar, Shiraz, and Malayer. Based on information received by HRANA, Saeed Rouhani was executed in Sirjan Prison; Ayoub Lashkari in Rasht Prison; Bahram Bani Asad in Ahvaz Prison; Hedayat Mirzaei in Borazjan Prison; Afshin Maleki in Ilam Prison; Tahmasb Mehrjou in Khaf Prison; Ali Haghighatdoost in Lahijan Prison; Hirman Sadri in Mahabad Prison; and Majid Sohrabi in Malayer Prison. 

KAMPALA, Feb 3 - A Ugandan court on Monday dropped a case against the first man in the country to be charged with "aggravated homosexuality", which carries the death penalty under an anti-gay law, his lawyer told Reuters. The East African country enacted the Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023, defying pressure from Western governments as well as local and international rights groups.  Described as one of the world's harshest laws targeting the LGBT community, it carries a sentence of life in prison for same-sex intercourse and imposes the death penalty in cases deemed "aggravated".

Mogadishu (HOL) — Puntland authorities on Tuesday executed a woman convicted of murdering a 14-year-old girl after the victim’s family chose retributive justice under Islamic law, marking a rare application of the death penalty against a woman in the semi-autonomous region. The execution was carried out in Galkacyo, a divided city in central Somalia, after courts found Hodan Mohamud guilty of killing Sabirin Saylaan Abdille, a minor who had been working as a domestic helper.  Officials said the sentence was imposed under qisas , an Islamic legal principle that allows the family of a murder victim to demand the execution of the perpetrator instead of accepting financial compensation.

A French national facing a possible death sentence in Malaysia on eight drug-related charges was acquitted Tuesday, freeing him after nearly two and a half years in detention. The High Court in the northern city of Alor Setar ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that Tom Felix, 34, had control, custody or possession of the drugs in the case. “The accused is, therefore, released and acquitted,” Alor Setar High Court judge Evawani Farisyta Mohammad said. Felix, in court wearing a white shirt and trousers, his hands cuffed, looked visibly pleased as the judge delivered the decision.

Some 30,000 people are already thought to have been killed and many more detained. Families say they have little information about their loved ones  Two weeks after Ali Rahbar was arrested in anti-regime protests in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, his cousin heard from relatives that he had been executed. He was 33. “I was shocked,” his cousin, who lives in Europe, told The Sunday Times. “Everything went dark before my eyes.”  Rahbar’s family had no idea where he had been held or what the charge was, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions against his family in Iran. 

China has executed another four members of a powerful Myanmar-based crime family that oversaw 41 pig butchering scam* compounds across Southeast Asia.   The executed individuals were members of the Bai family, a particularly powerful gang that ruled the Laukkai district and helped transform it into a hub for casinos, trafficking, scam compounds, and prostitution.  China’s Supreme People’s Court approved the executions after 21 members were charged with homicide, kidnapping, extortion, operating a fraudulent casino, organizing illegal border crossings, and forced prostitution. The court said the Bai family made over $4 billion across its enterprise and killed six Chinese citizens.

TEHRAN, Iran (DPN) — An Iranian protester who drew international alarm over reports of an impending death sentence has been released on bail, but he remains ensnared in the country's judicial system without a pardon or dismissal of charges, according to human rights organizations and state media. Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old resident of Fardis, a suburb west of Tehran, was freed Saturday after his family posted bail equivalent to about $12,600. His detention stemmed from participation in anti-government protests that erupted nationwide in late 2025 and intensified into early 2026, challenging the Islamic Republic's clerical leadership amid economic woes and demands for political reforms. Soltani's case spotlighted the harsh crackdown on dissenters.

TEHRAN, Iran (DPN) — Iranian authorities have arrested an engineering student accused of secretly filming inside a ballistic missile warehouse during a university field trip to a site operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The student, whose identity has not been publicly disclosed, allegedly used a mobile phone to record dozens of missiles despite a strict ban on photography at the facility. The video, which circulated on platforms including X and pro-Iranian Telegram channels, showed what experts identified as short-range ballistic missiles from the Fateh-110 family, an older model in Iran's arsenal. The footage prompted swift action from IRGC intelligence officials.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 29 January 2026: Weeks after the violent crackdown on nationwide protests which resulted in thousands of people being killed, injured or detained, Iran remains under internet restrictions and a heavy security presence in major cities. There is serious concern regarding the condition of thousands of protesters who are incommunicado following arrest or have been reported missing. Detained protesters have been denied access to their lawyers of their choice, with many held in undisclosed locations. While state media have confirmed the arrests of 3,000 protesters, IHRNGO estimates that at least 40,000 people, including children, have been detained in relation to the nationwide protests. These arrests reportedly took place during street protests, following identification and raids on people’s homes or at checkpoints. 

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 28 January 2026: State media reported the execution of Hamidreza Sabet Esmailpour for charges of “espionage and intelligence cooperation in favour of Mossad” at an unspecified location. According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency, a man named Hamidreza Sabet Esmailpour was executed on charges of “espionage and intelligence cooperation in favour of Mossad through contact with an intelligence officer and transfer classified documents and information.  The date and location of the execution have not been specified. He was arrested on 29 April 2025, per the report.

OSAKA, Japan — Ryuji Kobayashi, a death row inmate convicted of leading a brutal 2006 double murder that involved burying victims alive, has died in custody, prison officials said. He was 41. Officers at the Osaka Detention House discovered Kobayashi unresponsive in his cell during a routine morning patrol, with a futon cover wrapped around his neck. He was pronounced dead shortly after being transported to a hospital. While an autopsy is pending to determine the exact cause of death, the Justice Ministry indicated there were no immediate signs of a struggle or self-inflicted injury.

China has executed 11 members of the notorious Ming family criminal gang, who ran mafia-like scam centers in Myanmar and killed workers who tried to escape, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.  The Ming family was one of the so-called 4 families of northern Myanmar — crime syndicates accused of running hundreds of compounds dealing in internet fraud, prostitution and drug production, and whose members held prominent positions in the local government and militia aligned with Myanmar’s ruling junta. 

After about 4 hours of deliberations, jurors on Friday recommended Harrel Braddy should be sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 killing of 5-year-old Quantisha Maycock.  A South Florida man who dropped off a 5-year-old child in the Everglades to be eaten alive by gators nearly 3 decades ago was given a second chance at life as jurors recommended he should spend the rest of his life behind bars instead of being sent to death row. After about four hours of deliberations, jurors on Friday recommended Harrel Braddy should be sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 killing of 5-year-old Quantisha Maycock. 

NEW YORK — A federal judge has dismissed two charges against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, effectively removing the possibility of the death penalty in the high-profile case.  U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled Friday that the murder charge through use of a firearm — the only count that could have carried a capital sentence — was legally incompatible with the remaining interstate stalking charges against Mangione.

In an exclusive report, the American magazine TIME cited two senior officials from the Iranian Ministry of Health, who stated that the scale of the crackdown against protesters on January 18 and 19 was so widespread that 18-wheeler trailers replaced ambulances. In its report, based on testimony from these two high-ranking officials, TIME revealed statistics that differ vastly from the official narrative of the Islamic Republic.

The head of Iran’s judiciary warned on Sunday that those behind a recent wave of anti-government protests could expect punishment “without the slightest leniency.” What began earlier this month as demonstrations against the high cost of living boiled over into a broader protest movement that represented the gravest challenge to the Islamic Republic’s clerical leadership in years. The protests have abated following a government crackdown, carried out under an internet blackout that left the country largely cut off from the outside world.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 25 January 2026: Newly obtained reports show a new wave of repressive measures have been targeted against those who provided medical assistance to injured protesters.  Security forces have raided homes and clinics, violently arresting doctors and volunteers and damaging or destroying their property. According to various reports received by IHRNGO, security forces have been cracking down on health personnel and volunteers who have fulfilled their humanitarian duty by helping treat wounded protesters.

Data and recent Supreme Court judgments show how trial court death sentences frequently collapse under appellate scrutiny, raising questions about investigation, evidence and the use of capital punishment. Hanumangarh, Rajasthan: Eight years after a crime that later led to a death sentence, the Supreme Court has acquitted a young man from Chennai convicted of the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl. A trial court in Chengalpattu had sentenced him to death in 2018, a verdict later upheld by the Madras High Court. Earlier this month, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court overturned both judgments, citing serious gaps in the prosecution’s case.