Death Penalty News

A Japanese man has appealed against his life sentence for fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a district court spokesperson said on Wednesday. Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, sent shockwaves through Japan after he shot and killed its longest-serving prime minister with a homemade gun in July 2022, while Abe was delivering a campaign speech in the western city of Nara. “An appeal was filed,” said the spokesperson. The Osaka High Court will review the appeal. Yamagami was sentenced to life in prison by the Nara District Court on January 21, 2026, after admitting to the murder, using a homemade gun during Abe's campaign speech in Nara.

The Supreme Court acquitted ten prisoners who had been on death row, the highest number of such acquittals in the past decade. The Supreme Court of India has not confirmed a single death penalty in the last three years, according to an annual statistics report on death penalties in India published by The Square Circle Clinic, a criminal justice initiative at the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. In fact, in 2025, the top court acquitted ten prisoners who had been on death row, the highest number of such acquittals in the past decade.  The report, which examined death penalty trends across India over the last ten years, found that the Sessions Courts handed down 1,310 death sentences nationwide between 2016 and 2025. “Despite growing judicial scepticism at higher levels,” the lower courts sentenced 128 individuals to death in 2025 alone, the report said. 

People in North Korea, including schoolchildren, are being publicly executed, sent to labour camps or subjected to brutal public humiliation for watching South Korean television shows or listening to K-pop, according to new testimonies gathered by Amnesty International. North Koreans who fled the country told Amnesty that watching globally popular South Korean dramas – including Crash Landing on You, Descendants of the Sun and Squid Game – or listening to South Korean pop music can lead to the most extreme punishments, including death. Those without money or connections face the harshest consequences.

When Lance Shockley was exe­cut­ed in Missouri in October 2025, he request­ed the pres­ence of his daugh­ter, an ordained min­is­ter, in the exe­cu­tion cham­ber as his spir­i­tu­al advis­er. The Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) denied his request, and Mr. Shockley was exe­cut­ed. His case rep­re­sents one exam­ple of how states have applied the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 rul­ing in Ramirez v. Collier , a deci­sion that acknowl­edged the reli­gious rights of death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers at the time of their exe­cu­tion. In its 8 – 1 rul­ing, the Supreme Court held that John Ramirez, a death-sen­tenced pris­on­er in Texas, had the right to have a spir­i­tu­al advis­er touch him and pray aloud dur­ing his exe­cu­tion. The Court based this deci­sion on both the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and urged states to adopt clear poli­cies for allow­ing spir­i­tu­al advis­ers into execution chambers.

In January 2026, the Alabama Supreme Court authorized Governor Kay Ivey to set an execution date for Charles Burton, allowing the state to proceed with execution by nitrogen gas. This followed the exhaustion of his appeals, and he is now eligible for execution at any time.  MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Charles "Sonny" Burton didn't kill anyone. The state of Alabama could execute him anyway. Burton, 75, is facing execution for his role as an accomplice in a 1991 robbery at an auto parts store where customer Doug Battle was killed.  No one disputes that another man, Derrick DeBruce, shot and killed Battle. Burton, one of six men involved in the robbery, was outside the store at the time of the shooting, according to testimony. DeBruce and Burton were both sentenced to death. But DeBruce was later resentenced to life imprisonment, leaving Burton -- who neither fired the gun nor ordered anyone to be killed -- as the only person facing execution.

Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has authorised the killing of 11 categories of people under a newly endorsed Taliban penal code, granting himself sole authority to approve executions deemed necessary for what the movement describes as the “public interest”.  Article 16 of the Taliban’s new penal code allows for “discretionary execution” ( ta’zir by death) of individuals accused of a broad range of offences, including armed opposition to the Taliban, promoting beliefs considered contrary to Islam, sorcery and repeat criminal acts, according to the text reviewed by Amu TV. 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As Florida accelerates executions at a pace unseen in modern history, multiple death row prisoners with execution dates this month have filed claims with the Florida Supreme Court raising serious concerns about the State’s repeated failure to follow its own execution protocol. Courts have long held that under the Eighth Amendment, execution protocols must be followed precisely because deviations create a substantial risk of severe pain and unconstitutional punishment.

HRANA – At dawn today, February 3, the death sentences of 15 prisoners, previously convicted on charges related to drug offenses and murder, were carried out in the prisons of Sirjan, Rasht, Yazd, Ahvaz, Jiroft, Borazjan, Ilam, Khaf, Bam, Birjand, Lahijan, Mahabad, Sabzevar, Shiraz, and Malayer. Based on information received by HRANA, Saeed Rouhani was executed in Sirjan Prison; Ayoub Lashkari in Rasht Prison; Bahram Bani Asad in Ahvaz Prison; Hedayat Mirzaei in Borazjan Prison; Afshin Maleki in Ilam Prison; Tahmasb Mehrjou in Khaf Prison; Ali Haghighatdoost in Lahijan Prison; Hirman Sadri in Mahabad Prison; and Majid Sohrabi in Malayer Prison. 

KAMPALA, Feb 3 - A Ugandan court on Monday dropped a case against the first man in the country to be charged with "aggravated homosexuality", which carries the death penalty under an anti-gay law, his lawyer told Reuters. The East African country enacted the Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023, defying pressure from Western governments as well as local and international rights groups.  Described as one of the world's harshest laws targeting the LGBT community, it carries a sentence of life in prison for same-sex intercourse and imposes the death penalty in cases deemed "aggravated".

Mogadishu (HOL) — Puntland authorities on Tuesday executed a woman convicted of murdering a 14-year-old girl after the victim’s family chose retributive justice under Islamic law, marking a rare application of the death penalty against a woman in the semi-autonomous region. The execution was carried out in Galkacyo, a divided city in central Somalia, after courts found Hodan Mohamud guilty of killing Sabirin Saylaan Abdille, a minor who had been working as a domestic helper.  Officials said the sentence was imposed under qisas , an Islamic legal principle that allows the family of a murder victim to demand the execution of the perpetrator instead of accepting financial compensation.

A French national facing a possible death sentence in Malaysia on eight drug-related charges was acquitted Tuesday, freeing him after nearly two and a half years in detention. The High Court in the northern city of Alor Setar ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that Tom Felix, 34, had control, custody or possession of the drugs in the case. “The accused is, therefore, released and acquitted,” Alor Setar High Court judge Evawani Farisyta Mohammad said. Felix, in court wearing a white shirt and trousers, his hands cuffed, looked visibly pleased as the judge delivered the decision.

Some 30,000 people are already thought to have been killed and many more detained. Families say they have little information about their loved ones  Two weeks after Ali Rahbar was arrested in anti-regime protests in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, his cousin heard from relatives that he had been executed. He was 33. “I was shocked,” his cousin, who lives in Europe, told The Sunday Times. “Everything went dark before my eyes.”  Rahbar’s family had no idea where he had been held or what the charge was, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions against his family in Iran. 

Louisiana elected officials are once again pushing to resurrect the use of the death penalty for child rape, framing it as protection while setting the stage for a constitutional showdown.  These efforts are not subtle. They are a direct attempt to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana , which held that imposing the death penalty for a non-homicide offense violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Supporters frame these proposals as being tough on crime and protective of children. In reality, they threaten to unravel years of hard fought progress Louisiana has made to improve reporting, accountability, and access to justice for child sexual abuse survivors.

China has executed another four members of a powerful Myanmar-based crime family that oversaw 41 pig butchering scam* compounds across Southeast Asia.   The executed individuals were members of the Bai family, a particularly powerful gang that ruled the Laukkai district and helped transform it into a hub for casinos, trafficking, scam compounds, and prostitution.  China’s Supreme People’s Court approved the executions after 21 members were charged with homicide, kidnapping, extortion, operating a fraudulent casino, organizing illegal border crossings, and forced prostitution. The court said the Bai family made over $4 billion across its enterprise and killed six Chinese citizens.

TEHRAN, Iran (DPN) — An Iranian protester who drew international alarm over reports of an impending death sentence has been released on bail, but he remains ensnared in the country's judicial system without a pardon or dismissal of charges, according to human rights organizations and state media. Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old resident of Fardis, a suburb west of Tehran, was freed Saturday after his family posted bail equivalent to about $12,600. His detention stemmed from participation in anti-government protests that erupted nationwide in late 2025 and intensified into early 2026, challenging the Islamic Republic's clerical leadership amid economic woes and demands for political reforms. Soltani's case spotlighted the harsh crackdown on dissenters.

TEHRAN, Iran (DPN) — Iranian authorities have arrested an engineering student accused of secretly filming inside a ballistic missile warehouse during a university field trip to a site operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The student, whose identity has not been publicly disclosed, allegedly used a mobile phone to record dozens of missiles despite a strict ban on photography at the facility. The video, which circulated on platforms including X and pro-Iranian Telegram channels, showed what experts identified as short-range ballistic missiles from the Fateh-110 family, an older model in Iran's arsenal. The footage prompted swift action from IRGC intelligence officials.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 29 January 2026: Weeks after the violent crackdown on nationwide protests which resulted in thousands of people being killed, injured or detained, Iran remains under internet restrictions and a heavy security presence in major cities. There is serious concern regarding the condition of thousands of protesters who are incommunicado following arrest or have been reported missing. Detained protesters have been denied access to their lawyers of their choice, with many held in undisclosed locations. While state media have confirmed the arrests of 3,000 protesters, IHRNGO estimates that at least 40,000 people, including children, have been detained in relation to the nationwide protests. These arrests reportedly took place during street protests, following identification and raids on people’s homes or at checkpoints. 

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 28 January 2026: State media reported the execution of Hamidreza Sabet Esmailpour for charges of “espionage and intelligence cooperation in favour of Mossad” at an unspecified location. According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency, a man named Hamidreza Sabet Esmailpour was executed on charges of “espionage and intelligence cooperation in favour of Mossad through contact with an intelligence officer and transfer classified documents and information.  The date and location of the execution have not been specified. He was arrested on 29 April 2025, per the report.

OSAKA, Japan — Ryuji Kobayashi, a death row inmate convicted of leading a brutal 2006 double murder that involved burying victims alive, has died in custody, prison officials said. He was 41. Officers at the Osaka Detention House discovered Kobayashi unresponsive in his cell during a routine morning patrol, with a futon cover wrapped around his neck. He was pronounced dead shortly after being transported to a hospital. While an autopsy is pending to determine the exact cause of death, the Justice Ministry indicated there were no immediate signs of a struggle or self-inflicted injury.