Executions worldwide

The EU has rebuked Iran for the sentencing of 9 people to death by stoning even as a new report by a European rights group shows the number of executions worldwide is on the rise.

The European Union said this week it was deeply worried about news that Iran had sentenced 9 women and 1 man to death by stoning for separate adultery convictions in different Iranian cities.

A statement issued by France, which currently holds the EU presidency, on Thursday, July 24, reminded Tehran it had pledged to introduce a moratorium on stoning and urged it to abide by its commitments and international standards.

"The European Union calls on the Iranian government and parliament to abolish, in law and in practice, recourse to cruel and degrading punishment and, in particular the use of stoning, as a method of execution," the statement read.

News reports say the 8 women, ranging in age from 27 to 43, had convictions including prostitution, incest and adultery. The man, a 50-year-old music teacher, was convicted of illegal sex with a student.

The last officially reported stoning in the Islamic Republic was carried out on a man a year ago which sparked criticism from rights groups, the European Union and a top UN official.

Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi ordered a moratorium on stoning in 2002.

Iran, Saudi Arabia world leaders in executions

The EU's concerns over the death by stoning sentences in Iran coincided with the release of a new report by a Rome-based anti-death penalty group. It showed that though a global trend towards abolition of the death penalty continued in 2007 with the number of countries practicing capital punishment dropping to 49 from 51 in the previous year, the number of executions worldwide increased.

The group, called Hands Off Cain, presented its findings in the 2008 edition of its annual report, which covers the first 6 months of the year and 2007.

At least 5,851 executions were carried out in 2007 up from the 5,635 registered in 2006 and 5,494 in 2005, the report said.

The surge was "in large part" due to the increased number of executions in Iran, up by 1/3, and Saudi Arabia where the number of people executed quadrupled, it said.

China put to death at least 5,000 people, accounting for 85.4 % of the world total. Iran, which executed at least 355 people, and Saudi Arabia 166, filled the other top 3 places of what the report called the "terrible podium" of capital-punishment practicing countries.

Most executions in Asia; US to blame too

Other countries where the number of people executed numbered more than 10 included Pakistan, with at least 134, the United States where 42 people were put to death, Iraq with at least 33, Vietnam with at least 25, Yemen and Afghanistan, both with at least 15, and North Korea with at least 13.

The report noted how the "prevalent situation worldwide" including China,Vietnam, Belarus and Mongolia, was for governments to conceal the number of executions, making it difficult to provide exact figures.

"It points to the fact that the fight against the death penalty entails,beyond the stopping of executions, a battle for democracy, for the respect of the rule of law and for political rights and civil liberties," the report said.

Asia remained the region where the vast majority of executions are carried out, while the Americas "would be practically death-penalty free were it not for the United States, the only country on the continent to execute anyone in 2007," the report noted.

In Africa, the death penalty was carried out in seven countries -- Botswana (at least one), Egypt (actual number unknown), Ethiopia (1),Equatorial New Guinea (3), Libya (at least 9), Somalia (at least 5) and Sudan (at least 7).

In 2007 and in the first 6 months of 2008 9 countries moved from retention to a form of abolition of the death penalty.

Rwanda went from retentionist to abolitionist in July of 2007 with a law that abolished the death penalty for all crimes, while Kyrgyzstan abolished the death penalty in January 2007, after years of moratorium.

Uzbekistan went from retentionist to abolitionist on January 1, 2008.These moves were partly offset by the resumption of executions in Afghanistan and Ethiopia after several years of suspension, the report said.

Belarus a blemish on Europe

"In Europe, the only blemish on an otherwise completely death penalty-free zone continues to be Belarus, where at least 1 person was executed in 2007 and 3 in the first 5 months of 2008," the report said.

Hands Off Cain hailed the December 2007 adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution that calls upon all member states that still maintain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing them.

The group announced it had bestowed its "Abolitionist of the Year 2008" award on former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who during his time in office led a campaign to bring the resolution before the UN General Assembly.

Source: Deutsche Welle

Comments

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.

Arizona executes Leroy McGill

Arizona executes inmate who set couple on fire in 'horrific attack' Arizona has executed Leroy McGill for setting 21-year-old Charles Perez and his 24-year-old girlfriend on fire. Perez died the next day and Perez survived with severe burn injuries. Arizona has executed a death row inmate for setting 2 people on fire more than 20 years ago, killing 1 of them and changing the other's life forever. The state executed Leroy McGill, 63, by lethal injection on Wednesday, May 20, for the 2002 murder of 21-year-old Charles Perez. McGill set Perez and his girlfriend on fire after they accused him of theft, court records say. Perez died of his injuries the next day while his girlfriend survived with severe burns.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

Florida: The Daily Routine of Death Row Inmates

The breakfast carts rattle through the concrete prison at about 5:30 am and as they approach Death Row the first sounds of morning repeat the last sounds of night - remote controlled locks clanging open and clunking closed, electric gates whirring, heavy metal doors crashing shut, voices wailing, klaxons blaring. A maximum security prison has no soft or delicate sounds. At the end of each corridor of death row cells a guard opens a heavy door of steel bars and a prison trusty pushes a breakfast cart inside. The door closes behind him and when it locks a second door opens and admits the trusty to the wing. He steers his cart along the wing stopping at each cell to pass a tray of powdered eggs and lukewarm grits through a small slot on the bars. Food is prepared by prison staff and transported in insulated carts to the cells. The food carts are full of cockroaches, the food is often undercooked or just rotten and is served on Styrofoam plates with a plastic "spork" - fork/spoon...

Iraq: German schoolgirl, 17, turned jihadi bride escapes death penalty and is jailed for six years

GERMAN Jihadi bride Linda Wenzel has been jailed for six years in Baghdad for her role as an Islamic enforcer with terror group ISIS. Wenzel, 17, who last year sobbed on TV “I have ruined my life,” could have faced the death penalty. German media reported that a German embassy representative in Iraq was in court yesterday to witness her sentencing. She received five years for joining IS and one year for entering Iraq illegally. Wenzel was found in the rubble of IS stronghold Mosul back in the summer of 2017. Charges were laid against her and three other German women captured with her. Schoolgirl Wenzel fled to Turkey then into Syria last year from her hometown of Pulsnitz in eastern Germany after being groomed online by a Chechen IS fighter who she married. He was killed in the savage fighting for Mosul while she was employed by the terror group enforcing the strict Islamic dress code on women in the city. She burst into tears after her capture and said s...

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.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog