Death Penalty News

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday pardoned a German man facing the death penalty, the country's state news agency reported. Lukashenko "took the decision to pardon the German citizen Rico Krieger ... taking into account all the circumstances," Belta news agency reported, citing the president's press service. Krieger, 30, had been shown on Belarusian public television last week, saying "I really hope that President [Alexander] Lukashenko will forgive me and pardon me," according to a statement quoted by the Russian news agency TASS.

A Pakistani citizen has been executed in Saudi Arabia for smuggling heroin.  The Saudi Ministry of Interior confirmed that Zubair Khan Hazrat Jamal was executed in Mecca after being convicted of attempting to smuggle heroin into the kingdom. According to the Saudi Ministry of Interior, Zubair Khan Hazrat Jamal was apprehended by law enforcement officers who found heroin in his possession. 

Gir Somnath (Gujarat), Jul 30 (PTI) A special POCSO court has sentenced to death a 32-year-old man for raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl in Gujarat's Gir Somnath district in 2022. In an order passed on Monday, special judge S I Bhorania at Kodinar town ordered that the accused, Somabhai Solanki, be "hanged by the neck till he is dead," and also directed him to pay Rs 25,000 as fine.

BOSTON — A veteran prosecutor who nailed the Pentagon leaker and an ex-Harvard professor with ties to China has been put on the Boston Marathon bomber’s last-ditch death penalty appeal.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Casey is “counsel for the United States” against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who has won his appeal to determine if he deserves a new death penalty trial. 

Texas has executed 588 people since 1982 — all by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit. This is more than any other state in the country. Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies was a witness for the most recent Texas execution. He has this reflection. As we entered the witness room of the execution chamber, the condemned turned his head to us and smiled. Ramiro Gonzales was already strapped to the gurney. IV tubes had been inserted into his outstretched arms, and in a few minutes a lethal dose of pentobarbital would flow into his veins.

Loran Cole would be the first inmate executed in the state since October. TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a death warrant for an inmate convicted in the 1994 murder of a Florida State University student who went to the Ocala National Forest to camp with his sister. Loran Cole, 57, is scheduled to be executed Aug. 29 at Florida State Prison, according to documents posted Monday evening on the Florida Supreme Court website. Cole would be the first inmate executed in Florida since October, when Michael Duane Zack was put to death by lethal injection for a 1996 murder in Escambia County.

After death row inmate Joseph Corcoran challenged the state’s motion for an execution date to be set, counsel at the attorney general’s office are attempting to poke holes in Corcoran’s legal arguments and pressing for the Indiana Supreme Court to grant the execution request. Earlier this month, Corcoran’s lawyers said in court filing that he is “unquestionably seriously mentally ill” and therefore should not be subject to the death penalty.

Texas’ 2013 law that allows for new trials in cases with flawed scientific evidence was pioneering. But the state’s highest criminal court has rejected most of those challenges. When Texas’ highest criminal court stopped Robert Roberson’s execution in 2016, it agreed with his lawyers that there was enough doubt over the cause of his daughter’s death to warrant a second look.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); July 29, 2024: Mahim Jangizehi, a Baluch man on death row for murder, was executed in Minab Prison. According to the Baloch Activists Campaign, a Baluch man was executed in Minab Prison in Hormozgan province on 29 July. His identity has been reported as Mahim Jangizehi from Jasak who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

Sen Ted Cruz says Biden admin should 'unequivocally deny' Moussaoui's request A 9/11 terrorist’s plea to a Virginia judge that he be sent home to France from a federal Supermax prison to avoid the prospect of Donald Trump ordering his execution led to outrage from lawmakers on Monday. A letter from Zacarias Moussaoui to federal Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria lays out the so-called "20th hijacker’s" concerns that a future Trump administration will lead to his swift demise.

Utah’s parole board did not find “sufficient cause” to grant the death row inmate’s request to stop his execution, which is currently scheduled for Aug. 8. Utah’s parole board will not stop the upcoming execution for Taberon Honie, putting an end to one of the death row inmate’s last chances to avoid his death by lethal injection in less than two weeks. The five-member board announced Friday it would not grant Honie clemency after holding an emotional commutation hearing earlier this week — where Honie and his family members asked them to save his life, while the victim’s family tearfully pleaded with them to end it. Ultimately, the board said in a short written decision that it did not find “sufficient cause” to grant Honie clemency.

Prison officials believe it would have cost more to fight Taberon Honie in court over their initial plan to use an untested three-drug cocktail than pay for the pentobarbital they now plan to buy. Utah prison officials are expecting to spend $200,000 for the lethal injection drug they now plan to use to execute Taberon Honie, after changing course when the death row inmate’s attorney raised questions about the state’s original plan to use an untested three-drug cocktail.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); July 26, 2024: Motiollah Barkezi, an Afghan national on death row for drug-related charges, was executed in Ghaen Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, an Afghan man was executed in Ghaen Prison in South Khorasan province on 24 July. His identity has been established as Motiollah Barkezi, a 40-year-old father to two children from the border village of Mahi Roud.

A German citizen who was sentenced to death in Belarus has asked Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko for mercy in a video broadcast on state television. A 30-year-old German man sentenced to death in Belarus asked for pardon from President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday in a television appearance. 

Kamran Sheikheh, a Kurdish religious prisoner held for over 14 years, was executed on Thursday morning.  Sheikheh was the last of seven defendants in a joint case to face execution.

China executed three people on Tuesday for a mass stabbing in Kunming that killed 31 people last year, the country's top court said, with authorities blaming the attack on separatists from mainly Muslim Xinjiang.  Iskandar Ehet, Turgun Tohtunyaz and Hasayn Muhammad were put to death for "leading a terrorist organisation and intentional homicide", the Supreme People's Court said in a microblog post. 

The family of Steve Munyakho, a Kenyan migrant in a Saudi Arabian prison has renewed appeal for donations to help pay the Sh150 million court fine to secure his release. Munyakho has been a jailbird, languishing in several prisons in the Arab country for the last thirteen years after he was convicted of killing his workmate where he is currently incarcerated at Shimeisi Prison in Makkah region.

The six former students of Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) had their initial 18-year prison sentences overturned, and were sentenced to death for the murder of navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain seven years ago. PUTRAJAYA: Six former students of Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) were sentenced to death by a Malaysian court on Wednesday (Jul 24) for the murder of navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain seven years ago.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); July 23, 2024: Hassan Falahi, a man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, was executed in Qom Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Qom Central Prison on 22 July. His identity has been established as Hassan Falahi, a 30-year-old from Meshkindasht in Karaj.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); July 23, 2024: Omid Assadi who is on death row after unintentionally killing a man in a car accident, is scheduled to be executed on 22 August if his family cannot raise the €160k demanded diya amount. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a Saqqez native named Omid Assadi is at risk of execution in Karaj Penitentiary. He was arrested after being involved in a car accident that caused the death of the other driver.

A man facing execution next month for the murder his girlfriend’s mother asked state officials Monday to spare his life, saying he is not the same person he was when he killed the woman after a day of drinking and using drugs.

According to reports received by Iran Human Rights Monitor, the Iranian judiciary carried out the execution sentences of 9 individuals on Saturday and Sunday, July 20th and 21st, in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz, and Diezelabad Prison in Kermanshah.

On July 18, 2024, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the state Supreme Court to block a scheduled evidentiary hearing for Marcellus Williams and deny him the opportunity to establish his innocence before his scheduled execution on September 24, 2024. 

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); July 22, 2024: The execution of four prisoners, including a Baluch citizen and two Afghan nationals who were convicted of "drug-related charges" or "premeditated murder," was carried out in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj. According to information received by Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), on the morning of Sunday, July 21, the execution of four men was carried out in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj. Two of these prisoners, identified as Davood Barahouyi and Mehdi Aliakbari Fard, were sentenced to death on "drug-related charges."

One day Alabama will conduct its final execution. The witnesses present won’t know that, of course. If capital punishment disappears, it will be by law or ruling that comes after these men and women gather in the small, tomb-like room at Atmore Correctional Facility.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Attorneys for a Georgia inmate sent to death row 25 years ago are accusing a prosecutor of hiding a deal that they contend casts doubt on the credibility of a crucial trial witness. Warren King was sentenced to death in September 1998 after an Appling County jury convicted him of murdering Karen Crosby, a convenience store clerk who was fatally shot during an armed robbery in southeast Georgia.

Taberon Dave Honie will be put to death by pentobarbital instead of the untested lethal drug combination Utah abandoned plans to put a man to death with an untested lethal drug combination in his upcoming execution. A previously used drug will be used for Taberon Dave Honie's execution instead.

“Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.” The abbreviation of the Book of Exodus 21:24 is a favorite for those who support the death penalty. So much so, that the verse regularly even gets recited by those trying to justify their own participation in executions. The logic of course is that if you kill someone then you deserve to be killed. On the inverse, the logic is that if you don’t kill someone then you don’t deserve to be killed. Pretty basic stuff, right? 

As the state prepares to execute death row inmate Alan Eugene Miller by nitrogen gas, he’s expressed fears over the novel method: "You're telling me to practice killing myself." Unredacted documents posted by Alabama officials in the federal courts’ electronic filing system reveal new details about the nation’s first nitrogen gas execution carried out in January, including the identity of the state’s execution captain, his impressions from inside the death chamber and the concerns of another inmate who is set to die by the same punishment.

In 2021, the man shot Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers in the face, killing him NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — A man who was convicted of shooting and killing Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers during a traffic stop nearly three years ago has been sentenced to death, News4Jax reported.

Payton Gendron's attorneys argued he shouldn't be sentenced to death because of his age. The government disagreed. BUFFALO, N.Y. — The federal government has filed two responses opposing motions by Payton Gendron's attorneys to take the death penalty off the table in connection to the Tops mass shooting that happened on May 14, 2022.

Belarus is the last country in Europe still to apply the death penalty, executing several people each year by firing squad.

Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed execution warrants for six Florida inmates, the most in any year in the state since 2014. He was also running for president.  DeSantis had signed off on just two executions — both in 2019 — to that point. The sudden step up, along with legislation he signed lowering Florida’s death penalty jury requirement, seemed to signal a new approach to capital punishment. 

Gavin was executed by lethal injection in the shooting death of William Clayton Jr., a married father of 7 described by his son as a gentle giant. It's Alabama's 3rd execution this year. Alabama executed death row inmate Keith Edmund Gavin on Thursday, more than two decades after he fatally shot a father of seven who had stopped at an ATM to get money for a date night with his wife.

Alabama Death Row inmate Keith Gavin had said in a court filing by his attorneys last month he didn’t plan any more appeals of his scheduled lethal-injection execution Thursday for the 1998 murder of man at a bank ATM in Cherokee County. But in the past few weeks he has been fighting for his life in a handwritten motion to a judge.

Saudi Arabia enforces strict penalties for drug trafficking Saudi Arabia executed Kitab Gul, a Pakistani citizen convicted of heroin smuggling, following a local court’s decision.  Despite appeals to higher courts, including the Supreme Court, which upheld the death sentence, Gul was executed today under a royal decree confirmed by the Saudi Ministry of Interior. Gul was arrested for drug trafficking and sentenced to death by a local court.

For at least the last six years, the Texas prison system’s method for acquiring pentobarbital – the substance it uses to execute death row inmates – has looked remarkably like a drug deal. That’s the conclusion of death penalty opponents after a report from National Public Radio dropped on July 10. The source of Texas’ execution drugs has long been hidden from the public, but NPR’s Chiara Eisner used state and federal documents and interviews with an anonymous pharmacist to identify the supplier as a San Antonio company that the U.S. Department of Justice alleges has illegally dealt drugs and “fueled and profited from the opioid epidemic.”

Hong Kong narcotics bureau tipped off its counterpart in Singapore after suspecting a drug trafficking syndicate sent people to city state A Hong Kong man who was arrested in Singapore after HK$3 million (US$384,260) worth of suspected crystal meth was discovered in two stone figurines could face the death penalty in the city state.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay of execution for a Texas man 20 minutes before he was to receive a lethal injection Tuesday evening.  The inmate has long maintained DNA testing would help prove he wasn’t responsible for the fatal stabbing of an 85-year-old woman during a home robbery decades ago.

While a green wave sweeps the Western world, there are still some countries that have harsh penalties for cannabis possession. From prison time to beheadings, these are some of the countries you don't want to get caught with weed. In recent years, the world has seen a general loosening of cannabis laws, concerning both medicinal and recreational use of the drug. Today, over 60 countries have legalised cannabis for medicinal purposes while, earlier this year, Germany finally introduced legislation to legalise recreational cannabis, becoming just the third country in the world to do so.

Human rights NGO says the surge indicates the government's commitment to extensive use of the death penalty Saudi Arabia has executed 100 people since the beginning of 2024 through to 15 July, the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) said on Monday.

Afad, an independent observatory monitoring human rights abuses in Iraq, recently documented 63 cases of secret executions. Iraqi authorities continue to carry out secret executions in violation of the country's constitution, aiming to evade scrutiny from political factions and human rights organisations, according to Iraqi officials. 

The 57-year-old is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. He was convicted in 1999 of murdering a woman in her trailer The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied a clemency application filed by Ruben Gutierrez, paving the way for his execution for the murder of a woman over two decades ago.

KUWAIT CITY, July 15: The Court of Appeal, led by Counselor Abdullah Al-Othman, has affirmed the death sentence for a young Bedouin man convicted of killing his father.  The incident occurred in the Al-Firdous area following a domestic dispute over breakfast.

Former President Donald Trump was injured Saturday evening during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in what the FBI says was an assassination attempt. The gunman and at least one audience member are dead, the Secret Service said, and two other attendees are critically injured. Trump said on social media that he was shot and hit by a bullet in the “upper part of my right ear.” The Secret Service said the former president is safe after he was rushed off the stage with blood on his face.

On Aug. 8, Utah could become the first state in the country to use ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, in an execution by lethal injection. But Taberon Honie, the state’s first death row inmate to face an execution warrant in more than a decade, is suing officials with the Utah Department of Corrections, claiming the novel approach could lead to unnecessary pain and suffering, while triggering hallucinations, paranoia and “mental anguish.”

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has agreed to forgo an autopsy on a Muslim death row inmate, scheduled to be executed next week, who said the post-mortem procedure would violate his religious beliefs. Keith Edmund Gavin had filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to avoid the autopsy, which is typically performed after executions in Alabama.  The Alabama prison system in a Friday statement said it had agreed to forgo the autopsy.

Yesterday, as part of what is likely the Court’s last regular release of opinions before summer break, the Florida Supreme Court issued decisions in two direct appeals. Cox v. State This is Allen Ward Cox’s direct appeal from his sentence of death imposed on resentencing granted as a result of Hurst .1 The opinion is authored by Justice Sasso.

Last week brought new evidence of crippling flaws in America’s death penalty system. The number of people exonerated and freed from death row over the last 50 years reached 200 .

It looks very likely that the state of Texas will execute Ruben Gutierrez on July 16 without ever having DNA tested fingernail scrapings, bloodstains, and hair that he says will prove he is not a murderer.