Death Penalty News

A close reading of the nine judgements in which the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Muzaffarnagar, imposed 23 death sentences reveals a deeply troubling picture  It is highly unlikely that any of these 23 death sentences will be upheld by the appellate courts. However, it is a process that can take years. As a society and a legal system, we have chosen to retain the death penalty. The least courts can do in exposing an accused to the “spectre” of death is to ensure that such suffering is not inflicted in blatant disregard for the law. The Supreme Court has repeatedly insisted that the decision to impose it cannot be based only on the brutality of the crime and that a certain procedure has to be followed. Yet, the recent instance of a trial judge in Uttar Pradesh sentencing 23 people to death over approximately five months raises a fundamental concern about whether the law laid down by the Supreme Court is being followed.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 22 September 2026: Ali Zarei Douzdarehsi, a political prisoner on death row for “corruption on earth” charges, is at imminent risk of execution after being transferred to the solitary confinement cells of Ghezel Hesar Prison (Karaj). According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, political prisoner Ali Zarei Douzdarehsi was transferred to the solitary confinement cells of Ghezel Hesar Prison on 19 September 2026, raising concerns about the possibility of his imminent execution.

The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of a man who was handed down death penalty for repeated sexual assault of three minor girls aged between six and eight. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta passed the order while hearing a plea filed by the man challenging a verdict in June this year of the Madras High Court's Madurai bench which confirmed his conviction and death sentence given in the case. The high court had said that three minors were sucbjected to aggravated penetrative sexual assault repeatedly over a period of one year and they were aged six, seven and eight respectively. It had said the convict did not deserve any leniency.

BANGKOK — 22 September 2026, The Criminal Court has sentenced “Am Cyanide” to death in her eighth poisoning case, finding her guilty of premeditated murder in the death of Jantharat “Jum” in Phetchaburi province. The court also ordered Am, 39, to pay 60,000 baht in compensation to the victim’s husband, plus 5% annual interest from 15 August 2022 until payment is complete. The judgement was read today in courtroom 712 at the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok, in black case No. A 856/2568. Prosecutors had charged Am with premeditated murder for financial gain, concealing another offence or avoiding punishment for another offence, and contaminating food, medicine or other consumer products in a way that caused death.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir raised the possibility of applying the death penalty to the Neveh Tzuf terrorist during a security meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Two hours before the start of Yom Kippur on Sunday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir raised the possibility of applying the death penalty to the terrorist responsible for the attack in Neveh Tzuf during a security meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu had reportedly convened the meeting in response to the security situation in the West Bank following the Sunday terror attack.

Iranian authorities have executed Hadi Hasanlou on “drug-related” charges at Shiraz Central Prison and Nemat Maghami on a charge of “premeditated murder” at Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz. According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Hadi Hasanlou, a 36-year-old Turkish prisoner from Maragheh, was executed at dawn on Sunday, September 20, 2026, at Shiraz Central Prison (Adelabad Prison).

The news of that day has passed, but its meaning remains with us today. "That Day, Today" reads the present through the records of the past. — Editor's note On Sept. 21, 2006, a serial killer who murdered 13 people and gravely injured 20 others was sentenced to death.  He did not lower his head even after hearing the verdict of death. Instead, he shifted the blame, saying that if the state and society had helped him, such a tragedy would not have happened.  During the trial, he went so far as to say he could quit smoking but could not quit killing. This was a man who gave up alcohol and cigarettes and kept himself fit so that he could kill.

The identities of the six Islamic State group suspects remain unclear, but they are part of a group of 47 French citizens transferred from Syria last year. BAGHDAD: Six French nationals went on trial on Sunday, as Iraq moves to prosecute thousands of suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. Iraq’s prisons, already packed with IS suspects, have received thousands more detainees transferred since last year from neighboring Syria.

William Reaves is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Oct. 20th. It's the 18th death warrant Gov. DeSantis has signed this year. Reaves shot Deputy Sheriff Richard Raczkowski in September 23, 1986. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his 18th death warrant of the year Friday. William Reaves, convicted of the 1986 killing of an Indian River County Sheriff's deputy, is set to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke on Oct. 20.

An Israeli settler was shot dead in the West Bank on Sunday on the eve of the Yom Kippur holiday, and the military said it arrested the suspected gunman. Israel’s military also reported a car-ramming attack attempt in the West Bank, in which the perpetrator was killed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the shooting as a “murderous attack” carried out ahead of the most important holiday for Jews, which will start on Sunday evening.

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Under current Supreme Court precedent, states cannot execute someone for raping a child if the victim survives. That’s not stopping State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-McKinney. “We’re going to have a debate in this building behind me about the death penalty being on the table for any Texan who rapes a child,” Leach, the chair of the Texas House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, said. Leach made the comments while hosting a news conference supporting his client, abuse survivor Cindy Clemishire.

In a single page of a verdict issued by Abolqasem Salavati, presiding judge of Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, the official count of Molotov cocktails listed as evidence changes three distinct times: from 20 to 22, and finally to 25. This deeply flawed document ultimately imposed death sentences on two protesters detained following the January 2026 demonstrations, alongside 10-year prison terms for all three co-defendants.

Hengaw – Friday, September 18, 2026 Rezvan Asgharzadeh, a 45-year-old woman and mother of six who had been sentenced to death on drug-related charges, has been executed in Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan.  Her husband, who was sentenced to death on similar charges, remains imprisoned at the same facility and is at risk of execution.

A man was executed in Iran for passing information about Iranian missile sites to Israeli intelligence services during the war, the judiciary reported Saturday. ’’The death penalty was carried out against Hossein Pedaran, who had provided the Mossad with information on missile sites in Isfahan province,’’ in central Iran, Mizan, the Iranian judiciary’s news outlet, reported. The judiciary accused Pedaran of ‘‘espionage and intelligence cooperation’’ on behalf of Israel but did not provide information about the date of his arrest or his trial. It said the death sentence had been ‘‘confirmed by the Supreme Court.’’ The case had not previously been reported by Iranian media.

A Sri Lankan Tamil migrant worker, Sivarasa Anojan, is facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia after an appeal against a five-year prison sentence over a Facebook post deemed insulting to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. Former Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has urged Saudi Arabian authorities to grant clemency to Sri Lankan national Anojan Sivarasa following reports that his five-year prison sentence has been escalated to a death sentence over an offensive social media comment. Expressing deep concern over the reported development, Sabry said Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry had not confirmed the death sentence and that the formal written judgment was still awaited. “Respect for Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty and legal system does not require silence in the face of disproportionate punishment,” Sabry said.

SINGAPORE: A 36-year-old Malaysian man and a 35-year-old Malaysian woman were arrested after trying to cross into Singapore on a motorcycle with drugs, including more than 10 kg of cannabis. If convicted, they may face the death penalty. In a media release on Friday (Sept 18), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said its officers discovered four bundles of “vegetable matter” believed to be controlled drugs underneath the seat of the Malaysia-registered motorcycle.

A 29-year-old man charged with stalking and murdering his 31-year-old ex-girlfriend in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Dec 31, 2025, told a court on Thursday that he first hit her with a hammer and then stabbed her with a kitchen knife because he "wanted to finish her off." According to the indictment,Takumi Ouchi is accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend, Haruka Komatsumoto, by attaching a location-tracking tag to her car and subsequently killing her at her home between 5:20 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. on Dec 31.

An Australian national accused of murdering a Thai teenager and concealing her body inside a suitcase appeared in a Thai court on Friday, formally entering a not guilty plea to all charges. Simon Peter Carman, 45, faced the Pattaya Provincial Court following his indictment by prosecutors. He has been held at the Pattaya Remand Prison since late June, following an investigation into the death of 17-year-old Tunchanok Donhomla. Carman was formally indicted on multiple counts, including murder, concealing a corpse to hide the cause of death, abduction of a minor over 15 years of age for indecent purposes, and two counts of committing indecent acts on a minor.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WBMA) — Alabama has executed Jeffery Lee, nearly three decades after he was convicted in the 1998 killings of two people during a pawnshop robbery in rural Dallas County. Lee, 49, was put to death by lethal injection Thursday evening at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. His execution came three months after a federal judge blocked Alabama's plans to execute him using nitrogen gas. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. Central Time, according to the office of Governor Kay Ivey.