Death Penalty News

TEHRAN, Iran (DPN) — Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has approved pardons or sentence reductions for more than 2,100 convicts, the judiciary announced Tuesday, in a move coinciding with the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, authorities explicitly excluded anyone involved in the deadly nationwide protests that erupted in late December 2025 and continued into January 2026, highlighting the regime's ongoing hardline stance against dissent.

Lahore, Feb 9 (PTI) A high court in Pakistan has set aside the death sentence of a former military officer in a blasphemy case and acquitted him for "want of evidence," a court official said on Monday.  A sessions court had awarded a death sentence to Col (R) Muhammad Arif last year for allegedly passing insulting remarks about the Prophet in Rawalpindi city, some 250kms from Lahore.  An activist of radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, which was recently proscribed by the Shehbaz Sharif government, was complainant in this case. 

Israel’s prison authorities have begun logistical and operational preparations for carrying out executions following the first Knesset reading of a bill allowing the death penalty in terrorism cases In recent days, the Israel Prison Service has begun making practical preparations for the possible implementation of the death penalty for convicted terrorists, following the first reading in the Knesset of a bill that would authorize capital punishment in exceptional cases. According to a report by Channel 13 News, the preparations include logistical, organizational, and personnel-related measures. 

Officials described in silence the day Mary Jane Veloso returned to Philippine custody in December 2024 after spending over fifteen years overseas. However, many Filipinos found it emotionally charged, particularly those who had family members employed abroad. Not only did someone return, but the topic we’ve been trying to answer—what happens when the system fails the weakest?—also came back into focus. She had departed the nation in 2010 with common aspirations: modest but determined. To provide for her family, she sought domestic work overseas, just like a startlingly high percentage of Filipina workers. What happened next was a destructive spiral. Mary Jane, who was arrested in Indonesia after more than two kilograms of heroin were discovered in her suitcase, said she had no idea what she was carrying.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq announced on Monday that a high-level security officer during the rule of Saddam Hussein has been hanged for his involvement in the 1980 killing of a prominent Shiite cleric. The National Security Service said that Saadoun Sabri al-Qaisi, who held the rank of major general under Saddam and was arrested last year, was convicted of “grave crimes against humanity,” including the killing of prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, members of the al-Hakim family, and other civilians.

Human rights activists are sounding the alarm over reports of secret and extrajudicial executions in Iran, warning that the authorities may be moving toward retaliating against detainees after the deadly crackdown on protests in January. Domestic accounts—fragmentary and difficult to verify under heavy censorship—suggest that killings may be continuing beyond those reported during the nationwide unrest of January 8 and 9, when security forces opened fire on demonstrators in cities across the country. One case frequently cited by rights activists involves Mohammad-Amin Aghilizadeh, a teenager detained in Fooladshahr in central Iran.

The condemned headed family syndicates that trapped Chinese abroad in massive scam centres BEIJING — In less than a week, China conducted a series of executions on a scale rarely seen in recent decades. In all, 16 core members of mafia-like crime syndicates were put to death for a range of crimes, from murder to fraud and human trafficking. While all the victims in the cases were Chinese nationals, many of the condemned were citizens of Myanmar, a largely Buddhist country not known for executing crime bosses.

The HRANA report comes as the Islamic Republic has been carrying out an increasing number of executions. At least 13 prisoners were executed in various prisons across Iran on Saturday morning after having been convicted by the regime's courts of drug and murder-related charges, US-based human rights group HRANA reported the same day. According to the group, the executions took place in the prisons of Khorramabad, Sanandaj, Dezful, Aligudarz, Kermanshah, Yasuj, Nahavand, Zahedan, Hamedan, and Karaj Central Penitentiary.

TOKYO - Japanese political parties are split on abolishing the death penalty, with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Centrist Reform Alliance not taking a clear stance on the issue, a survey released by a human rights group ahead of Sunday's general election showed. In the questionnaire conducted by Tokyo-based Human Rights Now, the long-ruling LDP said the issue should be "considered cautiously by fully taking into account public opinion" as it "relates to the foundation of the criminal justice system."

TORONTO, Canada — China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian official told AFP Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing. Schellenberg's lawyer Zhang Dongshuo, reached by AFP over the phone in Beijing on Saturday, confirmed the decision was announced Friday by China's highest court. Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before China–Canada ties nosedived following the 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.

Alabama has scheduled a March execution date for a man sentenced to death for a fatal shooting during a 1991 robbery even though he didn't pull the trigger.  Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday set a March 12 execution using nitrogen gas for Charles “Sonny” Burton, 75. Burton was convicted as an accomplice in the shooting death of Doug Battle, a customer who was killed during an Aug. 16 robbery that year of an auto parts store in Talladega. 

The Indiana Catholic Conference (ICC) is hailing positive developments at the midpoint of the legislative session, including the rejection of a push to introduce execution by firing squad as a means of capital punishment.  Following impassioned debate on the House floor, a bill that would have added this controversial method of carrying out the death penalty in Indiana was defeated in a close vote. Rep. Bob Morris (R-Fort Wayne), a Catholic lawmaker who last year introduced legislation to abolish the death penalty altogether, was among those appealing to his colleagues to vote no on House Bill 1119. 

The Islamic Republic has now entered a new phase of systematic repression, reports Amirhossein Miresmaeili as lawyers warn of an unprecedented scale of repression in the country This article first appeared on our partner site, Independent Persian Iran has seen a sharp increase in raids on the homes of protesters by the Islamic Republic’s military in recent weeks, with a dramatic rise in demand for the death penalty, several lawyers have told Independent Persian. Reports indicate that the arrests, often on charges related to participation in Iran’s national uprising, have often proceeded without recourse to any legal or judicial process. Severe charges have been raised at the preliminary indictment stage, some carrying penalties that could include execution and death.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 5 February 2026: Iraj Mostafavi, Bakhtiar Shahabi and Hassan Alayi-Bakhsh were executed for separate murders in Gorgan Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were hanged in Gorgan Central Prison on 4 February 2026. Their identities have been established as 43-year-old Iraj Mostafavi, Bakhtiar Shahabi and 28-year-old Hassan Alayi-Bakhsh. Iraj was arrested for an “honour killing” around three years ago, Bakhtiar was arrested around six years ago and Hassan was arrested for a murder that took place in the course of a street fight three years ago. They were all sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

The Alabama Legislature passed HB 41, the Child Predator Death Penalty Act, on Thursday. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall released a statement after it passed. "I applaud the Alabama Legislature for passing HB41, the Child Predator Death Penalty Act, which sends the strongest possible message that our state will not tolerate crimes against our children, who are among our most vulnerable citizens," Marshall said in the statement.

The U.S. Justice Department has indicated its intent to pursue the death penalty against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national accused of fatally shooting one West Virginia National Guard member and seriously wounding another near the White House in late November 2025. WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors said Wednesday they intend to seek the death penalty against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the 29-year-old Afghan national accused of ambushing two West Virginia National Guard members near the White House, killing one and gravely injuring the other. Lakanwal pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington to nine federal charges, including first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill and illegal possession of a firearm. The arraignment before Judge Amit Mehta came amid indications from prosecutors that they are working toward "death-eligible charges" — potentially through additional or amended counts — as the case advances.

The man accused of killing two Israeli embassy employees in May is now facing even more charges.  The Justice Department announced Wednesday night that Elias Rodriguez is now charged with four counts of acts of terrorism. One criminal defense attorney believes the new charges are an intentional effort by prosecutors to sway a jury toward capital punishment if he is convicted. WASHINGTON - The man accused of gunning down two Israeli embassy employees in May is now facing even more charges. The Justice Department announced Wednesday night that Elias Rodriguez is now charged with four counts of acts of terrorism. 

A Japanese man has appealed against his life sentence for fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a district court spokesperson said on Wednesday. Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, sent shockwaves through Japan after he shot and killed its longest-serving prime minister with a homemade gun in July 2022, while Abe was delivering a campaign speech in the western city of Nara. “An appeal was filed,” said the spokesperson. The Osaka High Court will review the appeal. Yamagami was sentenced to life in prison by the Nara District Court on January 21, 2026, after admitting to the murder, using a homemade gun during Abe's campaign speech in Nara.

The Supreme Court acquitted ten prisoners who had been on death row, the highest number of such acquittals in the past decade. The Supreme Court of India has not confirmed a single death penalty in the last three years, according to an annual statistics report on death penalties in India published by The Square Circle Clinic, a criminal justice initiative at the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. In fact, in 2025, the top court acquitted ten prisoners who had been on death row, the highest number of such acquittals in the past decade.  The report, which examined death penalty trends across India over the last ten years, found that the Sessions Courts handed down 1,310 death sentences nationwide between 2016 and 2025. “Despite growing judicial scepticism at higher levels,” the lower courts sentenced 128 individuals to death in 2025 alone, the report said.