Death Penalty News

In spite of its seven-year streak in not executing its death row inmates, Indonesia last year issued 114 death sentences, a report by Amnesty International has found. JAKARTA – Despite its seven-year streak in not executing any death row inmates, Indonesia last year issued 114 death sentences, a report by Amnesty International has found.

Jamie Mills Executed Despite New Evidence That Prosecutors Falsified Case Against Him Mills, 50, was pronounced dead at 6:26 p.m. local time after a three-drug injection at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southwest Alabama, the state's Department of Corrections said in a statement. Lethal injection remains Alabama's default method of execution unless an inmate requests nitrogen gas or the electric chair to carry out the death sentence. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey had authorized a 30-hour window for his execution to take place, between 12 a.m. Thursday and 6 a.m. Friday, although officials estimated that it would begin at around 6 p.m. local time Thursday, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.  "On May 29, 2024, Mills had 6 visitors and 6 phone calls," the department's statement said. "On May 30, 2024, he had 6 visitors,  no phone calls, accepted his breakfast tray, and had a final meal of seafood." Media witnesses reported no compl...

NASIRIYAH (Iraq), May 31 — Iraq executed eight people convicted of “terrorism”, a security source and health official said today, the third such group put to death in the country in little over a month. Courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years to Iraqis convicted of “terrorism”, in trials that rights groups have denounced as hasty.

Alabama is set to execute a man convicted of bludgeoning an elderly couple to death 20 years ago to steal prescription drugs and $140 from their home MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama is set to execute a man Thursday evening who was convicted of bludgeoning an elderly couple to death 20 years ago to steal prescription drugs and $140 from their home. Jamie Ray Mills, 50, is scheduled to be put to death Thursday evening at a south Alabama prison. It will be Alabama’s first execution since the state conducted the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas in January. Lethal injection remains the state’s main execution method unless an inmate has requested nitrogen.

The 11th Circuit Court of Criminal Appeals denied two defense motions Tuesday seeking a delay in the execution of Jamie Ray Mills. The ruling sets the stage for Mills, 50, to be executed this week by the state of Alabama by lethal injection. The defense can still seek a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court. The death warrant runs for a 30-hour period from midnight Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday.

Dalian (China): He Zehua, former deputy chief of China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, has been sentenced to death, with a two-year reprieve, for taking huge amounts of bribes, media reports said on Wednesday. The sentence was handed down by the Intermediate People’s Court of Dalian, Liaoning Province, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Six years ago, Louisianans were weighing the merits of requiring juries to arrive at unanimous verdicts, then the law in every other state save for Oregon. The most vocal opposition to the idea came from district attorneys, some of whom warned that a slew of hung-jury verdicts would result if Louisiana stopped allowing convictions on 10-2 or 11-1 votes.

The Islamic Republic alone carried out 74 percent of all documented executions worldwide in 2023, Amnesty International reported.  With 853 executions, a 48 percent increase from the previous year, Iran sits behind China as the world's leading executioner.

Malaysia's top court commuted the death sentence imposed on a Japanese woman for drug trafficking to 30 years in prison on Wednesday, following a judicial reform that eliminated mandatory capital punishment for illicit drug trade and several other serious offenses.

Iran is at the forefront of a surge in recorded executions in 2023, as revealed by the latest report from Amnesty International. “In Iran, the authorities intensified their use of the death penalty to instill fear in the population and tighten their grip on power, carrying out executions across the country,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

Recorded executions soared to their highest number in almost a decade in 2023 with a sharp rise across the Middle East and in Somalia, where executions increased by more than six times, Amnesty International said today as it released its annual report on the global use of the death penalty

Today, Amnesty International released its annual report on the state of death penalty around the world. Compiled by a brilliant team of experts, advocates, and human rights defenders, the report makes for sobering reading.

A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced to death a former executive of one of the country's largest state-controlled asset management firms for accepting "extremely large" bribes, state media reported. Bai Tianhui, the former general manager at a subsidiary of bad-debt manager Huarong Asset Management, was found guilty of receiving the equivalent of more than 1.1 billion yuan ($151.9 million) while using his management positions to offer favourable treatment in "matters including project acquisition and corporate financing", state broadcaster CCTV said.

In an interview with Vatican News, death row prison chaplain and author, the Rev. Joseph B. Ingle, reflects on his pastoral work and advocacy and talks about the time he was part of an effort to gain pardon for Robert Sullivan, a death row inmate in the 1980s, that involved Pope John Paul II who personally pleaded for clemency to save Sullivan's life.

Missouri executed four people in 2023. Amber McLaughlin, Michael Tisius, Johnny Johnson and Leonard Taylor, who maintained that he was innocent, all died by lethal injection. The state is one of five in the country that carried out executions last year.

The Islamic Republic's authorities have executed a young man for an alleged murder he committed at the age of 16.  On May 18, 2024, 20-year-old Ramin Sa'adat was executed at Miandoab Prison for a murder committed when he was 16 years and five months old, according to Kurdpa news agency. 

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 24, 2024: Arvin Ghahremani, a young Jewish man on death row for murder, is at imminent risk of execution in Kermanshah Central Prison after his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court. His relatives say key errors in the case were intentionally ignored and Arvin’s actions to save the victim were not mentioned in the indictment.

Letters from Death Row Iwao Hakamada The odds were always stacked against Iwao Hakamada. Prosecutors in Japan have a 99-percent conviction rate for individuals charged with crimes. And for inmates who insist they are innocent, getting a court to grant a retrial has been extremely rare.

A conservative plan for Donald Trump’s potential second term calls for the swift execution of everyone on federal death row, continuing the historic federal execution spree that took place during the Trump administration. Buried in a 2023 plan from the Heritage Foundation, dubbed Project 2025, former Trump Department of Justice official Gene Hamilton urges a second-term Trump to “do everything possible” to execute the remaining 40 people on federal death row, arguing the White House should push for these killings “until Congress says otherwise through legislation.”

SINGAPORE: Yong Vui Kong is alive and well, though still incarcerated, as he sees the 15th year since a last-minute appeal saved his life from the gallows. Vui Kong’s story was well publicized after he was arrested for possession of 47.27 grams of heroin. This occurred in 2007 when the Malaysian was only 19 years old.

Some Indonesians have voiced support for the drug traffickers to be executed. As of October last year, Indonesia had 509 death row inmates A raid on a suspected drug lab in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, allegedly operated by Russian and Ukrainian nationals, has reignited discussion about banning “problematic” tourists and executing criminals for serious drug crimes.

Travis Mullis was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death in 2011, three years after sexually assaulting, choking and stomping to death 3-month-old Alijah Mullis in Galveston. An execution date was set for a Brazoria County man convicted of brutally stomping his infant son to death in 2011.

Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani’s family and international human rights groups fight to commute his death sentence, highlighting Iran’s severe judicial practices and discrimination The Iranian government has postponed the execution of Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani, a 20-year-old Jewish man from the Iranian city of Kermanshah, initially scheduled for Monday, May 20, 2024. Convicted of murdering a Muslim man, Ghahremani’s case has drawn significant attention from international human rights organizations and his family, who have been tirelessly advocating for clemency. The mounting global pressure is urging relatives of the deceased to accept a payoff [ blood money ] to commute the death sentence.

Parvez Tak, stepfather of Bollywood actor Laila Khan, has been awarded the death penalty for the murder of the actor, her mother and four siblings in 2011. The Mumbai sessions court on Friday sentenced Parvez Tak to death for the murder of his stepdaughter and Bollywood actor Laila Khan, her mother and four siblings in 2011.  Parvez Tak was held guilty by the court on May 9 for murder and destruction of evidence.

Home Minister Targets Anti-Death Penalty Activists The Singaporean government since mid-April has issued at least four execution notices to individuals convicted of drug-related offenses. They are among 36 death row prisoners taking part in a legal action relating to their constitutional right to legal aid following appeal. None of these prisoners currently have legal representation.

International laws and treaties impose obligations on countries that still implement the death penalty to ensure that individuals facing this punishment are granted their full rights, including the right to seek pardon. Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Amnesty, pardon, or commutation of the sentence of death may be granted in all cases." The Arab Charter on Human Rights, in its Article 6, confirms that every person sentenced to death has the right to seek pardon or to have the sentence commuted to a lesser penalty.

Iwao Hakamada, who in a rare example is being retried over a 1966 murder case, will be given a verdict on Sept. 26, the Shizuoka District Court said Wednesday, which could see him finally acquitted more than five decades after he was sentenced to death by the same court. In the last trial session, prosecutors again sought the death penalty for the 88-year-old, saying there is enough evidence to show that Hakamata is the perpetrator, while defense lawyers argued that he is not guilty.

Opponents of the bill, including Gov. Jeff Landry, bucked Jewish faith leaders who said nitrogen gas evokes the Holocaust. A few months after Louisiana lawmakers legalized executing death row prisoners by nitrogen gas suffocation, an effort backed by Jewish faith leaders to remove that method from state law has died for the current legislative session.

TOKYO: Japanese prosecutors on Wednesday (May 22) sought the death penalty in the retrial of a man reputed to have been the world's longest-serving death row prisoner until his release in 2014, local media reported. Former boxer Iwao Hakamada, now 88, spent nearly five decades on death row after being convicted in 1968 of robbing and murdering his boss, the man's wife and their two teenage children.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 20, 2023: Ebrahim Raisi, the president of the Islamic Republic and a member of the "Death Committee," died yesterday in a helicopter crash. Honoring the memory of thousands of men and women who have fallen victim to the crimes of Ebrahim Raisi and the Islamic Republic over the past four decades, Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) emphasizes that Raisi's death does not mean the closure of the case on his crimes. IHRNGO hopes that one day, his record, along with those of other officials of the Islamic Republic and perpetrators of crimes against humanity, will be addressed in a competent court.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 20, 2024: Mojtaba Pouyande, Mostafa Aghayi, Nader Ghorbani and an unidentified Afghan national were executed for murder and drug charges in Shiraz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were executed in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 19 May. 

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The man responsible for the racially-motivated mass shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo is due back in federal court on Tuesday morning. Federal prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against Payton Gendron, the White supremacist who killed 10 Black people in the mass shooting on May 14, 2022.

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi and his Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian are missing after the helicopter carrying them crashed in the middle of the Dizmar forest. DUBAI, May 19 (Reuters) - A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed on Sunday as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog on the way back from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan, an Iranian official told Reuters. The official said the lives of Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were "at risk following the helicopter crash".

Parvin Moussavi, 53, was among five prisoners hanged in Urmia Fatemeh Abdullahi, 27, was hanged in  Neyshabur Two women were executed this morning [ May 18, 2024] in Iran. They have been identified as Parvin Moussavi and Fatemeh Abdullahi.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The state of Oklahoma has set an execution date for a man convicted of murdering a 7-year-old girl in the 1980s. The Court of Criminal Appeals decided that Richard Rojem will be put to death after decades behind bars for the murder of Layla Dawn Cummings.  Rojem has always claimed that he's innocent.

U.S.-based Persian Jews are fundraising to secure last-minute reprieve for young Jewish man scheduled for execution by hanging. The Iranian regime is gearing up to execute a young Jewish man convicted of murder on Monday, barring a last minute reprieve from the victim’s family.

On Saturday, human rights groups reported the execution of ten individuals in Iran, highlighting the country’s troubling rate of capital punishment.  Two women were executed for separate crimes, while eight men faced execution on drug-related charges. This incident underscores Iran’s position as a global leader in executions, particularly for drug offenses.

At least seven people, including two women, were hanged in Iran on Saturday as the Islamic Republic has further intensified its use of capital punishment, a monitor said. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said it has tallied at least 223 executions this year, with at least 50 so far in May alone. A new surge began following the end of the Persian New Year and Ramadan holidays in April, with 115 people including six women hanged since then.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 18, 2024: Parvin Mousavi, Ramin Lavandi, Mansour Naseri, Yousef Saeedi Chehreh,  Parviz Mirghasemi and a man only identified as Mr Jabali were executed for drug-related charges in Urmia Central Prison.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 17, 2024: Jafar Aslani, a man on death row for drug offences, was executed in Qazvin Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Qazvin Central Prison (Choobindar) on 15 May. His identity has been established as 40-year-old Jafar Aslani who was arrested for drug offences three years ago and sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

David Hosier, who is weeks away from execution, is in a hospital after suffering what a Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman described as a “medical emergency." ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri death row prisoner who is due to be executed next month has been hospitalized because of a “medical emergency,” a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Corrections said.

Attorney General Kris Mayes said this week her office would begin pursuing executions in cases early next year, potentially bringing to an end a two-year pause on capital punishment in Arizona. Executions have been on hold since early 2023, when Mayes and Gov. Katie Hobbs, both Democrats, stopped the state from carrying out the death penalty and launched a review of procedures. Resuming them could happen in less than a year, according to a letter from Mayes' office obtained by The Arizona Republic.

Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

A 20-year-old Jewish man is scheduled to be executed by Iranian authorities on Saturday, according to Iranian media reports. The young man has been sentenced to death following his involvement in a fatal altercation with a local non-Jewish Iranian.

Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof has fled to Europe after being sentenced to eight years in prison, flogging, and confiscation of property by the Islamic Republic. Rasoulof's lawyer, Babak Paknia, previously said that the charges stemmed from the director's films and his participation in a letter urging authorities to stop violence during protests over a deadly building collapse in 2022.

The execution of Khosrow Besharat at dawn today in Iran's Qezel Hesar Prison in Karaj marks a tragic and egregious act of injustice.  Besharat, who endured more than 14 years of imprisonment and was subjected to brutal torture to extract a coerced “confession,” has become yet another victim of the Iranian regime's systematic repression of dissent.

PUTRAJAYA: A former medical equipment supplier who murdered his sister-in-law more than two decades ago was freed by the Federal Court today after his death sentence was commuted to a 33-year prison term. A three-member bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who sat with Justices Zabariah Yusof and Abu Bakar Jais, ordered A Arokiasamy, 73, who is now wheelchair-bound, to serve 33 years in prison from the date of his arrest on July 19, 2000.

PUTRAJAYA, May 16 — The Federal Court here today upheld the death sentence of a Singaporean man for the murder of his eight-year-old Thai stepson in 2008. This followed the rejection of Shawal Senin’s application by the three-member panel of judges to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023.

Luo Chongchuang, a man who raped and molested multiple girls for a long time, was executed after China's top court approved his death penalty. The execution was carried by the Hainan First Intermediate People's Court, where he was convicted of rape and child molestation and given the death sentence.

Every few years, from childhood until my late teens, my granddad would take me along with him to the small Texas town where he grew up—Normangee, population 522—to visit old relatives and even older graves. The drive took us up I-45, beyond the Houston sprawl, past pine forests, and eventually through Huntsville, epicenter of the state prison system. One of the city’s seven prisons was just off the interstate, and as we passed by I’d stare at the guard towers and barbed wire before turning my attention across the street to the Texas Prison Museum, which had its own mock guard towers in the parking lot. (“Prison” and “museum” were words that never seemed to go together.) Later, I learned that the museum’s central attraction was the wooden electric chair the state used for executions until 1964.