Brazil | 'Executions', 'torture' and 'carnage' in deadly Rio de Janeiro police raid

The provisional death toll now stood at 119, including 115 suspected criminals and four police officers.

Brazilian police were today accused of gruesome brutality as part of a bloody gang crackdown before international heads of state and dignitaries arrive in the country for the COP30 Climate Summit.

Officers have been accused of beheading a teenage gangster and hanging his head from a tree after the country's bloodiest-ever favela raid.

In the ongoing favela violence, gangs bombed police with drones in revenge for the deadly crackdown in the Penha district.

'This is how the Rio police are treated by criminals: with bombs dropped by drones,' said a police spokesperson.

'This is the scale of the challenge we face. This is not ordinary crime, but narco-terrorism.'

A resident added: 'This is the first time we've seen drones from criminals dropping bombs in the community. Everyone is terrified because there's so much gunfire.'

The aerial assaults came after a brutal police crackdown left at least 119 people dead - spotlighting the city's controversial war against drug gangs entrenched in its poorest neighbourhoods.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for action against organized crime that does not endanger police or civilians, as Brazil's security challenges were laid bare.

Families of the dead decried what they described as executions by police, while the state government hailed a successful operation against a powerful criminal group that has taken over large swaths of Rio de Janeiro.

The divisive police raid exposed the violent underbelly of a city beloved by tourists for its idyllic beaches and vibrant culture.

State authorities said the provisional death toll now stood at 119, including 115 suspected criminals and four police officers.

'We cannot accept that organized crime continues to destroy families, oppress residents, and spread drugs and violence throughout the cities,' Lula wrote on X.

Reactions

The Brazilian press reacted after the deadly police raids on drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro.

Jornal do Brazil writes that "witnesses report execution and torture," calling it a "carnage". The paper says this is the deadliest police operation in the history of the city.

An opinion piece in O Globo says that "Rio is just the most visible wound on a rotting body". The piece says that until Brazil understands the magnitude of the problem and tackles it on a social level, "we will continue to fight a losing battle, killing people and horrifying ourselves with the news" – until the next wave of killings.

Folha de São Paulo reports that the governor of Rio described the operation as a "success", claiming that the operation had preserved the lives of residents.

The Guardian's correspondent reports from Vila Cruzeiro, the favela that was targeted.

Many residents there searched for the dead bodies of their loved ones who were reportedly killed in the nearby forest.

The paper explains that perhaps many of the dead men – mostly in their late teens, twenties and thirties – were members of a local drug faction called "The Red Command."

But locals who flocked to the scene said that Brazil doesn't have a death penalty and that even if they were involved in the local drug trade, the men should have been arrested and not executed.

Source: France24, MailOnline, Staff, October 30, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

Singapore executes three drug mules over two days

Singapore hanged three people for drug offences last week, bringing the total number of executions to 17 this year - the highest since 2003. These come a week before a constitutional challenge against the death penalty for drug offences is due to be heard. Singapore has some of the world's harshest anti-drug laws, which it says are a necessary deterrent to drug crime, a major issue elsewhere in South East Asia. Anyone convicted of trafficking - which includes selling, giving, transporting or administering - more than 15g of diamorphine, 30g of cocaine, 250g of methamphetamine and 500g of cannabis in Singapore will be handed the death sentence.

Florida | After nearly 50 years on death row, Tommy Zeigler seeks final chance at freedom

The Winter Garden Police chief was at a party on Christmas Eve 1975 when he received a phone call from his friend Tommy Zeigler, the owner of a furniture store on Dillard Street. “I’ve been shot, please hurry,” Zeigler told the chief as he struggled for breath. When police arrived at the store, Zeigler, 30, managed to unlock the door and then collapsed “with a gaping bullet hole through his lower abdomen,” court records show. In the store, detectives found a gruesome, bloody crime scene and several guns. Four other people — Zeigler’s wife, his in-laws and a laborer — lay dead.

Louisiana death row inmate freed after nearly 30 years as overturned conviction upends case

A Louisiana man who spent nearly 30 years on death row walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction and granted him bail. Jimmie Duncan, now in his 60s, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the alleged rape and drowning of his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux — a case long clouded by disputed forensic testimony. His release comes months after a state judge ruled that the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction was unreliable and rooted in discredited bite-mark analysis.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Vietnam | Woman sentenced to death for poisoning 4 family members with cyanide

A woman in Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing family members including two young children in a series of cyanide poisonings that shocked her community. The Dong Nai People's Court found 39-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong Bich guilty of murder and of illegally possessing and using toxic chemicals. Judges described her actions as "cold-blooded, inhumane and calculated," saying Bich exploited the trust of her victims and "destroyed every ethical bond within her family."

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog