Death Penalty News

October 30, 2024 – Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have raised urgent alarms over escalating human rights abuses in Iran, where both corporal punishments and executions are being enforced at alarming rates. Amnesty International reports that five men held at Urumieh Central Prison in West Azerbaijan Province – Hadi Rostami, Kasra Karami, Mehdi Shahivand, Mehdi Sharifian, and Morteza Esmaeilian – are at immediate risk of having their fingers amputated by Iranian authorities. This follows the October 29 use of a guillotine machine by prison officials to amputate four fingers from the right hands of two other men, brothers Mehrdad and Shahab Teymouri, who were transferred to solitary confinement just prior to their punishment.

This investigative report uncovers a punitive approach employed by Syrian security forces following the detention of minors. Children were held without trial until they reached the legal age of 18, at which point they were transferred to Military Field Courts. Additionally, the Syrian regime used illegal methods to issue death sentences for detained minors under the Anti-Terrorism Law (No. 19 of 2012). Investigation by Ali Al Ibrahim and Mohamad Skaf

The Ministry of Health currently has no plans to abolish the death penalty in the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, following amendments in 2017 and 2023 that removed its mandatory status for drug offences. KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) currently has no plans to completely remove the death penalty from the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (Act 234) for drug-related offences. Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said that while the MOH oversees the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, its implementation and enforcement are carried out by other agencies, including the Royal Malaysia Police under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

In a statement to CNA today, the ministry said activist Kokila Annamalai was undermining public confidence in the Singapore criminal justice system SINGAPORE, Oct 31 — The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of Singapore said today that it does not target individuals for voicing opinions against the death penalty. However, it emphasised the need to correct false statements regarding government policies, especially those affecting public interest. This response came following queries by media site CNA after activist Kokila Annamalai refused to comply with a correction direction related to her social media posts, which the MHA deemed false regarding the government’s execution scheduling and legal processes.

Authorities at Urmia Prison in Iran’s West Azerbaijan Province carried out the sentence of finger amputation on two brothers convicted of alleged theft. Branch 1 of the provincial juvenile court ordered the amputation of four fingers from the right hand of each brother, Shahab and Mehrdad Teimouri.  After the procedure, the brothers were transferred to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Urmia for medical treatment.

After the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini and the subsequent protests, Iranian universities have also faced heightened repression and intensified control. The government's new "Population Growth" initiative, coupled with mandatory hijab laws, has transformed universities into enforcers of these policies, placing additional pressure on female students. Under the policy, universities offer academic grades and incentives for observing mandatory hijab, marrying, or having children, effectively turning these institutions into vehicles for promoting the Islamic Republic’s ideological goals.

Richard Moore, a 59-year-old father and grandfather, is scheduled to be executed in South Carolina on Nov. 1 for the 1999 killing of a convenience store clerk in a shootout, though Moore  entered the store without a weapon. His attorneys said he never intended to kill anyone and the death penalty is not a fair punishment. Advocates for commutation include a former state supreme court justice, jurors, a former director of the state’s department of corrections and more.

From 2010 to 2015 I was incarcerated in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the Tennessee prison that houses death row for the men’s system. On one side of a gate, 250 of us lived in a “support staff” unit working maintenance, landscaping, kitchen service or whatever else kept the facility operational. On the other side of the gate were maximum-security prisoners and those in protective custody, and a unit just for the condemned.

He was sentenced to death in February 2023 for “corruption on Earth,” and was accused of being involved in the 2008 bombing of a Shiite mosque in Shiraz that led to the deaths of 14 people and over 200 others injured. Iran executed a 69-year-old German-Iranian software developer and US resident, Jamshid Sharmahd on Monday, October 28, following years of imprisonment.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 28, 2024: Mansour Hadadi and Esmail Shehbakhsh, two men on death row for drug-related offences, were executed in Birjand Central Prison. According to Haal Vsh, a man was executed in Birjand Central Prison on 22nd October. His identity has been reported as Mansour Hadadi from Zabol who was sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court. He was executed without his family being notified and the right to a last visit with them.

Iran consistently ranks among the world’s leading executioners, claiming the grim distinction of having the highest number of executions per capita.  The Iranian regime extensively employs the death penalty as a tool not only for judicial punishment but also for political repression. The Iranian legal system, with its reliance on vaguely defined charges such as Moharebeh (waging war against God) and Baghi (rebellion), provides the state with broad latitude to impose capital punishment. These charges are frequently invoked not only in cases of violent crimes like murder but also to silence political dissent, protests, and religious beliefs that deviate from the state’s official ideology.

Kim* is a young professional who started using cannabis when family life became messy. Things improved, but her drug habit stuck - and by then, her social circle was primarily made up of people who also used. With a reliable local supplier of weed, Kim’s friends asked her if she would get some for them. “That’s what I did,” Kim says. “I never marked up the price in any way, because this was friendship... It’s like, I’m helping you to purchase something we both use anyway.”

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 24, 2024: Ayoub Sangari and Abdolgharib Maleki, two Afghan nationals on death row for murder, were executed in Qom Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two Afghan men were executed in Qom Central Prison on 22nd October. Their identities have been established as 26-year-old Abdolgharib Maleki and Ayoub Sangari who were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

Kamala Harris, once openly opposed to the death penalty despite political costs, now avoids the topic as a candidate. Meanwhile, Donald Trump advocates tougher criminal policies, though presidential authority in this area is limited. A few blocks from downtown Richmond, Virginia, the intersection of Spring Street and Belvidere Street now presents a completely different view. Where once stood a grim, old brick building, there is now a modern building with a glass facade reflecting the sun shining on Virginia’s capital. Trees along the wide Belvidere Street give the neighborhood a promenade-like feel, with the James River flowing nearby along the memorial for American war dead.

More than three decades after Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of the murders of their parents and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the brothers now see a path to their potential release. Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón on Friday will recommend that a judge resentence the siblings – a decision that was the culmination of a review that came after defense attorneys said in 2023 they had new evidence pointing to abuse by their father.

Yu Huaying, a woman who abducted and trafficked 17 children for financial gains between 1993 and 2003, was sentenced to death by a court in Guizhou province on Friday after a retrial. "Considering the circumstance of her offense was extremely serious, bringing great damage to the victims and their families, we impose the death penalty on her," said the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court.

The Kenyan government has been actively involved in seeking a resolution to Munyakho's case, where he is set for execution after he accidentally killed a Saudi colleague in an altercation The government has successfully negotiated the postponement of the execution of Stephen Munyakho, a Kenyan national who has been incarcerated in Saudi Arabia for over a decade. Munyakho, who was set to face the death penalty on November 26, 2024, has been granted an additional year as both parties work towards a resolution.

From the beginning of 2024 until October 24th, Saudi authorities have carried out 20 executions on charges of treason, part of a total of 234 executions this year, marking an unprecedented record. In contrast, death sentences for treason this year have been issued by the Specialized Criminal Court, while in 2023, two individuals were executed on treason charges in military trials—one a colonel, the other a first sergeant. No executions for treason were recorded in 2020 or 2022, while in 2021, three people were executed for treason under discretionary sentences from the Specialized Criminal Court.

Robert Roberson’s death sentence has become a circus, with gruesome acts playing simultaneously in three distinctly American rings. In the center are Texas politicians battling one another for power to end or preserve Roberson’s life. In a side ring, celebrities weigh in on whether the condemned man might be telling the truth about his young daughter’s death, and in another, medical experts debate the credibility of shaken baby syndrome and the meaning of the autism spectrum.

As scientific and technological progress continues, many prisoners may benefit from these advancements. However, many legal procedural barriers continue to block prisoners from accessing DNA evidence that has the potential to exonerate them. Death-sentenced prisoners with credible evidence of innocence have gained significant attention this month with the execution of Marcellus Williams in Missouri, the near-execution of Robert Roberson in Texas, and the U.S. Supreme Court arguments in Glossip v. Oklahoma . There is a common misconception that DNA evidence is widely available in all cases and central to exonerations, but the reality is that DNA exonerations in death penalty cases are relatively rare.

Saudi Arabia executed seven individuals on Wednesday, including five for drug trafficking, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The executions bring the total number carried out this year in the Gulf kingdom to 236 , based on an AFP tally using official statements. Yahya Lutfullah, Ali Azib, Ahmed Ali, and Salem Nahari were executed in the southern province of Asir for “smuggling hashish” into the country, the interior ministry stated in a report published by SPA.

Iranian authorities, on Wednesday, executed four people convicted of selling contaminated bootleg alcohol that killed 17 people last year.  The defendants had been sentenced to death in September 2023 for selling the contaminated alcohol that killed at least 17 people and put more than 190 others into a hospital in the province of Alborz, west of Tehran.  “The death penalty against four defendants in the case of poisoning caused by the consumption of alcoholic beverages was carried out at Karaj central prison,” the judiciary’s Mizan news agency said.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 21, 2024: Mohammad Farhadzadeh and Hamid Chatrsimabeh were executed for murder and moharebeh charges in Jiroft Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Jiroft Prison in Kerman province on 21 October. Mohammad Farhadzadeh was arrested seven years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. The second man’s identity has been established as 40-year-old Hamid Chatrsimabeh (Sabaki) from Goldasht who was sentenced to qisas by the Criminal Court and “moharebeh (enmity against god) through clashing and killing a NAJA officer” by the Revolutionary Court.

From 2010 to 2015 I was incarcerated at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, the site of death row for the men’s prison system. Though I wasn’t housed on death row, as the editor of the Maximum Times prison newspaper and, for a time, the chaplain’s clerk, I was on occasion able to visit. It was there that I was fortunate enough to meet author, prison volunteer and death row pastor Joseph B. Ingle.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 21, 2024: Mohammad Ashouri, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Isfahan Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Isfahan Central Prison on 16 October. His identity has been established as 32-year-old Mohammad Ashouri from Mamasani county in Fars province. He was arrested six years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 19, 2024: Mahmoud Bameri, a Baluch man who was sentenced to death for both murder and moharebeh charges, was secretly executed for the latter in Kahnuj Prison after paying blood money in the murder case. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a Baluch man was secretly executed in Kahnuj Prison on 17 October. His identity has been established as 45-year-old Mahmoud Bameri (Sabaki) who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court and moharebeh (enmity against god) by the Revolutionary Court for allegedly killing a policeman.

The chief of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police on Monday offered an apology in person to Iwao Hakamada at his home in Shizuoka Prefecture following his acquittal in a retrial over a 1966 murder case last month. Takayoshi Tsuda visited the home of Hakamada, 88, in the city of Hamamatsu, bowing deeply for about two minutes. “I am sorry for the pain and burden I have caused you over the last 58 years, which cannot be expressed in words,” Tsuda said to Hakamada and his older sister Hideko, 91, who fought a decades-long legal battle on behalf of her brother.

The cost to maintain Idaho’s execution capabilities for prisoners sentenced to death, including upgrades to the area planned for a firing squad, has grown to nearly $1.3 million , according to the state’s prison system. The Idaho Department of Correction issued notice last week of changes to its procedures for lethal injection. These changes include the construction of an “execution preparation room” just before prisoners enter the execution chamber at the state’s maximum-security prison south of Boise. There, execution team members, with help from a “qualified physician,” will decide whether to use a standard IV or heightened means to inject the lethal chemicals.

Singapore CNN  — Though he is provided with a straw mat, Matthew says he prefers to sleep on the concrete floor of his cell in the maximum-security wing of Singapore’s Changi Prison. “It’s more cooling that way,” says the 41-year-old former schoolteacher, who was sentenced to more than seven years in prison and seven strokes of the cane for selling methamphetamine. CNN met Matthew, who spoke on condition that his last name be withheld, during an exclusive tour of Changi Prison provided by Singapore authorities as they defended the city-state’s uncompromising position on drugs.

19th September 2024 – (Qingdao) A 25-year-old man, Li Mouyong, was sentenced to death by the Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court on October 18 for the brutal murders of two kindergarten teachers in Pingdu, Shandong Province.  The court found Li guilty of intentional homicide, stripping him of his political rights for life. The tragic incident occurred on 11th December, when Li forcibly entered the rented accommodation of the two teachers, fatally stabbing one, Li Moufei, before proceeding to kill another teacher, Liu. 

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 16, 2024: Amar Assian, a policeman on death row for murder, was executed in Kerman Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Kerman Central Prison on 13 October. His identity has been established Amar Assian who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 16, 2024: Younes Akhtar Samar, a man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) based on elme-qazi and a qassameh ceremony due to the lack of evidence against him, was executed in Jiroft Prison after his family failed to raise the €300k blood money. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Jiroft Prison on 14 October. His identity has been established as Younes Akhtar Samar who was sentenced to qisas based on elm-e-qazi (knowledge of the judge) and a qassameh ceremony.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 17, 2024: Mohsen Mokhtari, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Shiraz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Shiraz Central (Adel Abad) Prison on 16 October. His identity has been established as Mohsen Mokhtari from Shiraz who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. An informed source told IHRNGO: “Mohsen Mokhtar was arrested for murder five years ago. He was transferred to the gallows from Ward 10 of the prison.”

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 19, 2024: At least 6 men including four Afghan nationals were executed for drug-related and murder charges in Ghezelhesar Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least six men were executed in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj on 16 October. Four of the men were sentenced to death for drug-related charges. Three of their identities have been established as Javid Ahmadi and Afghan nationals Abdolbari Tajik and Pasha Pashto. The fourth man has not been identified at the time of writing.

HAMAMATSU, Japan (AP) — Hideko Hakamada, 91, spent much of her life working to free her brother from nearly a half-century on death row. Now that he has been acquitted she feels that the siblings are beginning a new chapter of their lives. She backed her brother, Iwao Hakamada, the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, through decades of frustrating, at times apparently hopeless, legal wrangling as his mental condition worsened.

Derrick Dearman, who killed 5 in south Alabama axe murders, executed Thursday  Alabama death row inmate Derrick Dearman, who was convicted in the 2016 slayings of 5 people with an axe and 2 guns, was put to death Thursday night by lethal injection. He had given up his appeals earlier this year and volunteered to have his execution set.

The Texas Supreme Court halted Thursday night’s scheduled execution of a man who would have become the 1st person in the U.S. put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. Supporters of Robert Roberson, who was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in 2002, turned to the Texas high court, which normally does not get involved in criminal cases, after both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court, earlier in the day rejected appeals to halt his lethal injection.

A Chinese woman is facing the death penalty after a retrial revealed she had kidnapped and trafficked 17 children over two decades, in collaboration with her husband and lover—starting with her own son. A court in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province in southwest China, commenced a retrial last Friday for a high-profile child abduction and trafficking case, following the discovery of new evidence. The case centers on Yu Huaying, 61, who was sentenced to death last year by the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court for kidnapping and trafficking 11 children in the 1990s for profit.

Alabama is preparing to execute a man who admitted to killing five people with an ax and gun during a 2016 drug-fueled rampage and dropped his appeals, so his execution go forward. Derrick Dearman, 36, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in south Alabama.

A day after Idaho prison’s system advised that it is again ready to perform a lethal injection, an Ada County judge issued the latest death warrant for Thomas Creech, the state’s longest-serving death row prisoner, and scheduled him for another execution.  Creech, 74, is now set to be executed on Nov. 13. If fulfilled, the execution would be Idaho’s first in more than a dozen years. Prison officials called off Creech’s planned execution earlier this year when for nearly an hour they were unable to locate a suitable vein for an IV to inject him with the lethal chemicals. 

A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Aravind Kumar and K V Viswanathan set aside the death penalty but sentenced the accused to 20 years in jail. The Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted the death penalty of a man, who had murdered his pregnant daughter for performing an inter-caste marriage against her family's will. A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Aravind Kumar and K V Viswanathan set aside the death penalty but upheld the conviction of Eknath Kisan Kumbharkar from Nashik district in Maharashtra and sentenced him to 20 years in jail instead.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 14, 2024: Hadi Fallah, a man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Tabriz Central Prison on 9th October. His identity has been established as 31-year-old Hadi Fallah from Eram-Tabriz.  An informed source told IHRNGO that Hadi was arrested for carrying drugs along with another individual three years ago. Hadi was sentenced to death, and his co-defendant was sentenced to 9 years imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court.

The Los Angeles district attorney has released new evidence in the Lyle and Erik Menendez case that could potentially lead to a review of their life sentences for murder. After their first widely publicized trial ended in a mistrial, a jury convicted the Menendez brothers of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty, following a second trial in 1996. While they never denied killing their parents, the brothers claimed they acted in self-defense and were lifelong victims of sexual abuse by their father. During the second trial, prosecutors argued the “abuse didn’t happen” and the judge overseeing the case did not allow much of the defense’s evidence of abuse to be presented, according to the brothers’ attorneys.

During the French annexation, 36 prisoners were executed using this device. Built in 1799, this structure basically consists of a tall, vertical oak frame fitted with a heavy steel blade with an oblique cutting edge and suspended from the top. It was designed for a rapid execution by decapitation of those who were condemned to death in the Swiss canton of Geneva during the French period. Today it is part of the Permanent Collection at the Tavel House, the oldest building in Geneva.  

Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.

The execution of 10 prisoners, previously sentenced to death on charges related to drug offenses and murder, was carried out in Adelabad Prison in Shiraz. Additionally, two prisoners sentenced to death on similar charges were executed in the prisons of Tabriz and Jiroft. The Baloch Activists Campaign reported that on October 14, a prisoner named “Younes Akhtar Samar, from Jiroft” was executed in Jiroft Prison. He had been arrested on murder charges and sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.

Aroosa Khan's son was chatting on WhatsApp but suddenly found himself the target of "vigilante" investigators who accused him of having committed blasphemy online, a crime that carries the death penalty in Pakistan. The 27-year-old is one in hundreds of young men standing trial in Pakistan courts accused of making blasphemous statements online or in WhatsApp groups, an offence for which arrests have exploded in recent years. Many of the cases are being brought to trial by private "vigilante groups" led by lawyers and supported by volunteers who scour the internet for offenders, rights groups and police say.

On the World Day Against the Death Penalty (10 October), Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) calls on Malaysia to take the next step towards the abolition of the death penalty. This step involves abolishing the death sentence for all crimes that do not directly cause death or grievous bodily injury to the victims of the criminals. This year, the World Day theme is “dedicated to challenging the misconception that the death penalty can make people and communities safer”. Madpet asserts: It cannot.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 12, 2024: Mostafa Karami, a man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Sari Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Sari Central Prison on 12th October. His identity has been established as 40-year-old Mozafar Karami from Rasht. He was arrested for drug-related offences three years ago and sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.

Russell Henderson is serving consecutive life sentences in Wyoming after being convicted of homicide and hate crime One of the men who murdered gay college student Matthew Shepard in 1998 was denied a commutation of his sentence this week, the Wyoming Board of Parole has confirmed. Russell Henderson, who along with Aaron McKinney was convicted of homicide and hate crime charges for murdering Shepard 25 years ago, is currently serving two consecutive life sentences in Wyoming prison. Henderson applied for a reduction in his sentence earlier this year per the Board’s regulations, which allow prisoners who have served at least 10 years of a life sentence to submit a commutation petition once every five years. But the board ruled against sending Henderson’s petition to the governor, Executive Director Margaret White confirmed in statements to The Advocate this week.