Death Penalty News

SANA'A September 07. 2024 (Saba) - With the aim of suppressing opponents of the Al Saud regime, the intensity of executions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has escalated sharply in the first half of this year, with an increase of 42 percent over the same period last year. In the latest execution of opponents of the Al Saud regime witnessed by the Kingdom, the death sentence was carried out against Abdul Majeed al-Nimr (59 years old) last Saturday. He is a father of four children from Qatif, a province inhabited by a Shiite majority located in the east of the Kingdom, after he was convicted of joining a "terrorist cell affiliated with Al-Qaeda", according to the Saudi media.

Expressing concern over the agonising indefinite delays in execution of death row convicts, the Supreme Court has indicated that it’s mulling issuing certain guidelines to address the issue. “Possibly, it is time for us to lay down the procedure as to what the public prosecutor has to do when mercy petitions of convicts against the death sentence are rejected. This situation cannot continue. There has to be a procedure as to how the prosecutor and court have to react,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice AS Oka said.

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 5: This Thursday morning at exactly 7:00 am, the Criminal Execution Prosecution carried out the death penalty for six convicts at the Central Prison. Among those executed were three Kuwaiti citizens, two Iranians, and one Pakistani. However, the execution of a Kuwaiti woman, convicted of killing her friend, was withdrawn at the last moment after the victim's heirs accepted blood money and pardoned her. 

The state of Alabama executed Gary Brown more than two decades ago for his connection to a fatal stabbing. But at a recent Sunday service in Birmingham, you could hear him preaching. In the bustling foyer of the Unitarian Universalist Church, an archival recording of one of Brown’s sermons in prison thrummed under patrons’ lively chatter. Visitors stood with their necks craned back, reading rows of letters fixed to a wall. The display was part of an art exhibit that’s been traveling through Alabama this summer. Using art and archival materials, “The Art of Resistance: Documenting Alabama’s Death Row” aims to spark conversations about the state’s use of capital punishment.

The execution of Thomas Creech failed in February when a prison medical team was unable to establish an IV line to carry out the lethal injection. BOISE, Idaho — After a failed execution in February, Idaho's longest-serving death row inmate said a second attempt to execute him would be "cruel and unusual punishment" - violating his Eighth Amendment rights.

In an August 31, 2024, editorial from The New York Times , the newspaper’s editorial board writes that capital punishment is “immoral, unconstitutional and useless as a deterrent to crime,” and asserts that President Joseph Biden should follow through with his campaign pledge to end the federal death penalty.  The Times believes “it would be an appropriate and humane finale to his presidency for Mr. Biden to fulfill that pledge and try to eliminate the death penalty for federal crimes.” Since 2000, public support for the death penalty has steadily declined, as have the number of new death sentences and executions. 

The law raises punishment for rape from the current sentences of at least 10 years to either life imprisonment or execution An Indian state, shaken by weeks of protests demanding justice after the rape and murder of a doctor, passed a law on Tuesday that could lead to the execution of rapists. Protests erupted in West Bengal after the discovery of a 31-year-old doctor’s bloodied body at a state-run hospital in the local capital Kolkata on August 9.

TEHRAN: The Supreme Court of Iran has upheld a death sentence awarded to a member of the all-volunteer wing of the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who stormed a house during the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini and killed a 60-year-old man, said a lawyer on Tuesday. The capital punishment awarded to the Basij member marks a rare moment for Iran to hold accountable its security forces. It is pertinent to mention that more than 500 people were killed and over 22,000 were detained in the 2022 protests.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An inmate set to be executed in South Carolina in three weeks wants the state Supreme Court to delay the execution so his lawyers can argue his co-defendant who testified against him lied about having no plea deal in exchange for his testimony. Attorneys for Freddie Owens also said in court papers filed late Friday that a juror saw an electronic stun device Owens had to wear in court to assure good behavior and a judge never talked about why he had to wear it.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 30, 2024: Meisam Hosseinkhani, a Kurdish man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, was executed in Khorramabad Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a Kurdish man was executed in Khorramabad (Parsilion) Central Prison on 28 August. His identity has been established as 22-year-old Meisam Hosseinkhani from Kouhdasht. He was arrested for murder with a cold weapon (knife) during a group fight three years ago and sentenced to qisas.