Death Penalty News

Responding to the news that Saudi Arabia has already executed 100 people this year, Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said: “In clear contrast to Saudi Arabia’s repeated promises to limit its use of the death penalty, the Saudi authorities have already executed 100 people this year , revealing their chilling disregard for the right to life. The authorities’ relentless killing spree raises serious fears for the lives of young men on death row who were under 18 at the time of the crimes.

Sub-Saharan African countries have seen a 67% fall in capital punishment, from 33 in 2021 to just 11 last year, and a 20% drop in death penalty sentences, from 373 to 298 over the same period, Amnesty International (AI) said in its latest report. South Sudan executed five people - down from nine in 2021 - and Somalia, which in 2021 carried out 21 executions, only had six last year. Botswana which had executed one person in 2021, didn't conduct any last year. In the whole African continent, recorded death sentences decreased by 20%, from 373 in 2021 to 298 in 2022.  Death sentences recorded in 16 countries last year, down three from 2021.  According to the report, the 20% drop in recorded death sentences was due to notable reductions in the following countries in 2022 compared to 2021:  Botswana (6 to 1); Cameroon (4 to 0); Democratic Republic of the Congo (81 to 76); Malawi (11 to 0); Mali (48 to 8); Somalia (27 to 10); Sierra Leone (23 to 0); South Sudan (10 to 4); Sudan...

The number of executions recorded globally in 2022 was the highest in five years, as several Middle Eastern states ramped up their use of the death penalty, Amnesty International says. A total of 883 people are known to have been put to death across 20 countries, marking a rise of 53% compared to 2021, according to the group's annual review. China, Iran And Saudi Arabia Responsible For Most Executions Last Year Iran , Saudi Arabia and Egypt alone carried out 90% of those executions. The figures exclude China , which is thought to execute thousands each year. Data on the death penalty is classified in China , which Amnesty said impaired its ability to make an accurate assessment about the numbers put to death in the country. The group was also able to confirm that executions were carried out in North Korea , Vietnam , Syria and Afghanistan , but there was insufficient information to provide credible minimum figures.

The 15th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, by Iran Human Rights and ECPM reveals the highest annual number of executions since 2015. At least 582 people were executed, an increase of 75% compared to 2021.  In 2022, Iran’s authorities demonstrated how crucial the death penalty is to instil societal fear in order to hold onto power. 

Harm Reduction International has monitored the use of the death penalty for drug offences worldwide since our first ground-breaking publication on this issue in 2007. This report, our twelfth on the subject, continues our work of providing regular updates on legislative, policy and practical developments related to the use of capital punishment for drug offences, a practice which is a clear violation of international standards. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Global Overview 2021 revealed that 2021 had ended as a year of mixed progress. On one side, the number of countries executing people for drug crimes had reached a decade-low, owing mostly to a halt in drug-related executions in Saudi Arabia and, to some extent, the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other side, a significant increase in confirmed executions had been recorded, largely attributable to a surge in Iran.  In the course of 2022, the situation sharply deteriorated.

SINGAPORE - There were 11 judicial executions in 2022, and none in the previous two years, according to figures released by the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) on Thursday. All were over drug-related offences. One of the high-profile cases involved Malaysian Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, who was sentenced to death in 2010 for importing 42.72g of heroin the year before in a bundle strapped to his thigh.

The rate of executions in Saudi Arabia has almost doubled since King Salman and his son Mohammed bin Salman came to power in 2015, as revealed in a new report by Reprieve and ESOHR . Read on to find out how the death penalty is used in Saudi Arabia and how it has drastically increased under Mohammed bin Salman. Does Saudi Arabia have the death penalty? Saudi Arabia is known to be one of the world’s most deadly executioners. Between 2010-2021, at least 1,243 people were executed. In 2022, at least 147 people were executed.

As on December 31, 2022 there were 539 prisoners on the death row, making it the highest-ever number since 2016 when only 400 prisoners were facing the death sentence In 2022, Sessions Courts in India imposed 165 death sentence penalties, which is the highest number in a single year in two decades, according to a report. However, this rise in figure can be attributed to the “extraordinary sentencing of 38 persons to death in Ahmedabad in a single bomb blast case, representing the largest number of persons sentenced to death in a single case since 2016,” the report said.

After a report dubbed 2022 “the year of the botched execution,” Catholic activists renewed their calls for an end to capital punishment in the U.S. at both the state and federal levels. Despite declining public support for the practice, and a campaign promise from President Joe Biden, a Catholic and a Democrat, to repeal the federal death penalty, a bill to do so gained little traction last Congress, when Democrats still controlled both chambers.

In a year awash with incendiary political advertising that drove the public’s perception of rising crime to record highs, public support for capital punishment and jury verdicts for death remained near fifty-year lows. Defying conventional political wisdom, nearly every measure of change — from new death sentences imposed and executions conducted to public opinion polls and election results — pointed to the continuing durability of the more than 20-year sustained decline of the death penalty in the United States.

Death penalties in Texas were near record low levels, with juries sentencing fewer people to death and lower execution dates set this year, according to a recent report titled, "Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2022: The Year in Review." Despite low numbers, the report said, executions set and carried out in 2022 raise concerns about the "fairness and utility of the death penalty." New death sentences in Texas have dropped 96% since the high peak of 1999, according to the report, adding that "prosecutors throughout the state have dropped the death penalty as a sentencing option in dozens of capital cases in recent years." "Receiving a death sentence now amounts to a lethal lottery, one that does nothing to deter crime or promote public safety," Kristin Houlé Cuellar, the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Executive Director and author of the report explained. "The randomness of capital punishment coupled with the egregiously fla...

Iran Human Rights NGO says anti-government protesters being targeted Iranian authorities have executed more than 500 people since the start of 2022, according to a human rights group, the highest such toll in five years. Iran Human Rights (IHR), a Norway-based anti-death penalty group that relies on a network of human rights defenders inside and outside Iran, said in a report on Monday that most of the 504 detainees were executed by hanging. The report comes as Iran struggles to contain ongoing anti-government protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died in police custody in September after being detained for not properly wearing her headdress. IHR warned in its report of Iranian authorities' extensive use of the death penalty against people who have participated in recent protests. So far, six people have been sentenced to death over Iran's protests in trials that have not allowed access to lawyers, according to IHR. RELATED | Iran officials sentence 5 ...

A notice posted in the North Korean capital earlier this year and seen by NK News this week warns that those who spread “rumors” about COVID-19 and Pyongyang’s quarantine policies could face the death penalty. The notice, dated May 29, 2022, came around two weeks after the country admitted it was facing a COVID-19 outbreak for the first time and described any criticism of the country’s pandemic policy as “anti-state” activities. “Some [North Korean] residents who are interpreting the Party and government’s anti-epidemic policies in their own way are spreading groundless rumors, disturbing the public sentiment and destroying the political stability of the society,” the decree says, prohibiting activities such as spreading “distorted” information about the spread of “malicious virus,” which is a code phrase for COVID-19 in North Korea. People are also banned from “spreading how they have interpreted” North Korea’s anti-COVID rules and guidelines “in their own way,” as well as lies about ...

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 10, 2022: Today, as we welcome the World Day Against the Death Penalty which is marked on October 10 every year, Iran Human Rights statistics reveal an 89% increase in execution numbers compared to the same period last year.  At least 428 people including two juvenile offenders and 12 women were executed in the first ten months of 2022. Commemorating the day, Iran Human Rights invites the public and civil society to express their opposition to the death penalty as the most critical tool of state repression. Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “For 43 years, the Islamic Republic has managed to stay in power by creating terror and executions. Opposing the inhuman punishment of death and fighting for its abolition are important steps towards the permanent end of dictatorship.” Observed every 10 October, the World Day Against the Death Penalty unifies the global abolitionist movement and mobilises civil society, political leaders and public opini...