Iran: 20-year-old boy hanged in public for "immoral acts"

Witnessing a public execution in Iran (file photo)

Three prisoners were hanged in public two different cities of Khorasan-Razavi Province today. One of the prisoners was hanged charged with the vague charges of “immoral acts”. Iran Human Rights calls for international condemnation of the recent wave of public executions in Iran.

Iran Human Rights, November 27, 2014: Three prisoners were hanged publicly in the cities of Mashhad and Joghatai today, reported the Iranian state media.

According to the state run Iranian news agency Fars the prisoner who was hanged in Joghatai (a twon near Mashhad) was identified as “M. Gh.” (20 year old), originally sentenced to death for murder (Qesas- retribution) and for immoral acts. The prisoner was later pardoned by the family of the murder victim, but he was executed for “immoral acts”. The report added that “M. Gh”. has sent request of pardon for immoral acts but his request was not granted by the Province Commission. There are no further specifications of what “immoral acts” the prisoner was sentenced to death for.

Two other prisoners identified as “Ali M.” and “Ali Gh.” were hanged in Mashhad at 9.15 AM this morning, reported Asr-e-Iran news site. The prisoners were charged with “offences like theft, murder, disruption of order and spreading fear among the people” said the report.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly condemns the new execution wave in Iran. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said: “The international community must react to the wave of the executions in Iran. Besides being barbaric and inhumane, the charges used by the Iranian authorities are often vague and many of the executions are arbitrary”.

Source: Iran Human Rights, November 28, 2014

Iran: Seven more hanged as executions soar under Hassan Rouhani

NCRI - Seven more prisoners have been hanged in public in Iran as executions continue to soar under Hassan Rouhani's rule.

More than 1,000 men, women and youths have now been put to death her the so-called 'moderate' leader who came to power 18 months ago.

On Wednesday, two men named as Ali M and Ali Q were hanged in public for 'mischief' in north-eastern city of Mashhad.

A group of five inmates were hanged in Gohardasht prison in city of Karaj. They were part of a group of nine that had been transferred to isolation on Tuesday. Four others they were returned to their cells after their execution had been delayed.

The two men were also hanged in the Ghasem Abbad district of the city of Mashhad at 9.30am local time today.

A video distributed on the internet this week shows the grief-stricken family members of eight executed prisoners mourning their loved-ones, whose bodies in black bags are lined up before them in a mortuary.

The video was secretly recorded on a mobile phone by an eyewitness who said a group of people are hanged secretly every Thursday in the city of Kerman.

The eyewitness said: "Many of the executions in this city are for possession of drugs offences. Usually these are young people who have grown up as orphans and due to poverty are now the sole breadwinner for their families."

Soaring human rights abuses in Iran, including an unprecedented rise in executions, the wave of state-organized acid attacks against women, and the continuing repression of religious and ethnic minorities, bloggers, reporters and activists are all taking place amid growing public discontent with the regime, but also in the absence of international action regarding the ongoing violation of human rights.

Source: NCRI, November 27, 2014

Texas | Death Sentence Overturned After 48 Years

The Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Thursday that Clarence Jordan’s punishment was unconstitutional A death sentence handed down by a Harris County jury in 1978 was overturned Thursday by the Court of Criminal Appeals. Clarence Jordan, 70, has been on Texas Death Row for almost 50 years, serving out one of the longest death sentences in the nation while suffering from intellectual disabilities and schizophrenia, his attorney told the Houston Press.

Florida | Tampa Bay man who killed wife, 3 family members sentenced to die

Shelby Nealy will be executed by the state for bludgeoning his wife’s family to death in 2018, a judge decided Friday. During a two-week sentencing trial in July, jurors heard how Nealy, 32, ended a volatile relationship with his second wife by killing her, then murdered her parents and brother a year later in an effort to never be caught. He pleaded guilty to the crimes in 2023. On July 25, the jury of three men and nine women deliberated for about two hours and voted 11-1 that Nealy should be sentenced to death. He stared straight ahead as the verdict was read.

US AG Authorizes Federal Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty for Three LA Gangsters Charged with Murder

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche has directed federal prosecutors in Los Angeles to seek the death penalty against three members of a transnational street gang charged with murdering a former gang member who was cooperating with law enforcement on a racketeering and methamphetamine trafficking case, officials announced Thursday. In a letter to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli on Wednesday, Blanche told prosecutors in the Central District of California they are “authorized and directed” to seek the death penalty against Dennis Anaya Urias, 27, Grevil Zelaya Santiago, 26, and Roberto Carlos Aguilar, 31. All are from South Los Angeles.

Texas appeals court says another man's confession not enough to reconsider Broadnax execution

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said Tuesday it won't consider another man's confession as a reason to pause a scheduled lethal injection in three weeks. James Broadnax was convicted of murdering two Christian music producers in Garland, but his cousin, Demarius Cummings, recently confessed that he was the shooter. University of Texas School of Law Capital Punishment Clinic professor Jim Marcus said the appeals court acts as a gatekeeper for cases meeting criteria to get back in court.

Florida Schedules Two Executions for Late April

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis has directed the Florida Department of Corrections to move forward with two executions scheduled for late April 2026, marking a significant ramp-up in the state's use of capital punishment. The scheduled deaths of Chadwick Willacy and James Ernest Hitchcock follow a series of landmark judicial rulings that have kept both men on death row for decades.

Saudi Arabia | Seven executed for drug trafficking

Saudi authorities executed seven people who had been convicted of drug trafficking in a single day, state media says. The Saudi Press Agency says five Saudis and two Jordanians were found guilty of trafficking amphetamine pills into the kingdom. “The death penalty was carried out as a discretionary punishment against the perpetrators,” the agency reports, adding that the executions took place on Sunday in the Riyadh region. Since the beginning of 2026, Riyadh has executed 38 people in drug-related cases, the majority of the 61 executions carried out, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

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...

Former FedEx driver pleads guilty to killing 7-year-old girl after making delivery at her Texas home

FORT WORTH, Texas — Tanner Lynn Horner, a former contract delivery driver for FedEx, pleaded guilty Tuesday to the 2022 capital murder and aggravated kidnapping of 7-year-old Athena Strand, a move that abruptly shifted the proceedings into a high-stakes punishment phase where jurors will decide between life imprisonment and the death penalty. Horner, 34, entered the plea in a Tarrant County courtroom as his trial was set to begin. The case was moved to Fort Worth from neighboring Wise County last year after defense attorneys argued that pretrial publicity would prevent a fair trial in the community where the girl disappeared.

North Carolina | “Incapable to proceed”: man who killed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska ruled incompetent

DeCarlos Brown, accused of stabbing Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte train, has been found mentally unfit for trial, stalling death penalty proceedings. DeCarlos Brown Jr., accused of fatally stabbing 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train in August 2025, has been found mentally incapable of standing trial, according to a court motion filed 7 April in Mecklenburg Superior Court. A 29 December 2025 report from Central Regional Hospital, a state psychiatric facility in Granville County, concluded that Brown was "incapable to proceed to trial," according to the motion filed by his attorney, Daniel Roberts. The evaluation was ordered after Brown's defense raised concerns about his mental state.

China executes Frenchman convicted in 2010 for drug trafficking

Chan Thao Phoumy, a 62-year-old Frenchman born in Laos, was executed, “despite the efforts of the French authorities, including efforts to obtain a pardon on humanitarian grounds for our compatriot”, said a foreign ministry statement. Phoumy, who was born in Laos, had been sentenced to death in 2010 following a conviction for drug trafficking. Despite sustained diplomatic pressure and formal requests for clemency on humanitarian grounds, Chinese authorities proceeded with the capital sentence. A massive drug manufacturing and distribution operation Chan Thao Phoumy was convicted for his involvement in a massive drug manufacturing and distribution operation that remains one of the largest drug-related cases in Chinese history. Phoumy and his accomplices were convicted of manufacturing approximately 8 tons of crystal methamphetamine between 1999 and 2003.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog