Death Penalty News

On the morning of Wednesday, October 15, 2025, Kafieh Qobadzadeh, a female prisoner, was executed in Shiraz Central Prison, known as Adelabad. Kafieh Qobadzadeh, originally from Isfahan, had spent 7 years on death row. She was only 23 years old at the time of her arrest, accused of killing her husband.  Her husband was reportedly violent and constantly suspicious of her, which ultimately led to a confrontation ending in his death.  She was the second woman executed on Wednesday. On that same day, Nahid Hemmati was hanged in Nahavand Prison, located in Hamedan Province.

Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia executed 1,380 people last year—highest in decade Amnesty International’s monitoring of the global use of the death penalty recorded 1,518 executions in 2024, an increase of 32% from 1,153 in 2023. For the second consecutive year, executing countries reached the lowest number on record. The global spike in known executions was due to a considerable rise in the numbers recorded in Iran , Iraq and Saudi Arabia , where executions increased altogether from 1,041 in 2023 to 1,380 in 2024. This constitutes approximately 91% of all known executions globally.

The 17th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, by Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty), provides an assessment and analysis of death penalty trends in 2024 in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It sets out the number of executions in 2024, the trend compared to previous years, the legislative framework and procedures, charges, geographic distribution and a monthly breakdown of executions. Lists of women and juvenile offenders executed in 2024 are also included in tables in the categories section.

At least 975 people were executed in Iran in 2024, a staggering 17% increase from the 834 executions recorded the previous year, according to a joint report released by the Iran Human Rights Organization (IHRNGO) and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM). "While the world's attention was focused on the growing tensions between Iran and Israel the Islamic Republic took advantage of the lack of international oversight to terrorize its own people by carrying out 5 to 6 executions daily ," said Mahmoud Amiri-Moghaddam, director of IHRNGO.

On Dec. 19, Kevin Ray Underwood became the last person executed in 2024 . Oklahoma put him to death for the 2006 murder of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Rolin. Six days earlier, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board met to consider Underwood’s request for clemency. He appeared via video conference and “apologized to Bolin’s family, his family, and those in the hearing room who had to listen to the details of the crime.” Underwood told the board that he has “blocked out most of his memory of that day. ‘But when I do think about it, it causes me great pain.’”

Iwao Hakamada's Trial by Ordeal Iwao Hakamada, a former Japanese professional boxer, became one of the most prominent symbols of judicial miscarriage after spending more than four decades on death row for a crime he always maintained he did not commit. His case, marked by allegations of forced confessions, fabricated evidence by the police, and prosecutorial misconduct, has drawn international attention to Japan's legal system.

TOKYO -- Japan is set to register no executions in 2024 for the second consecutive year, possibly affected by the high-profile acquittal of freed death row inmate Iwao Hakamada. It became certain on Dec. 27 that no inmate will be hanged in 2024 because the Act on Penal Detention Facilities and Treatment of Inmates and Detainees stipulates that executions are not carried out on Saturdays, Sundays or from Dec. 29 to Jan. 3. With no executions occurring in 2023, the period without a capital sentence being carried out has reached two years and five months. This unusually long duration in recent years is gathering attention over whether it will become a turning point for the country's death penalty system.

Since the beginning of 2024, Iranian authorities have carried out at least 883 executions, with 94 percent conducted in complete secrecy. This has sparked widespread public protests both inside and outside the country. The Iranian human rights site "HRANA" revealed that at least 883 executions took place in Iranian prisons during 2024, reflecting an 18.3 percent increase compared to the previous year. In 2023, authorities in Iran executed 834 individuals, marking the highest toll since 2015.

Saudi Arabia has reportedly executed 330 people this year, in what rights groups are calling the highest number in decades. According to the Reuters news agency, the latest number of executions carried out by Saudi authorities – based on announcements compiled by the human rights group Reprieve – has reached up to 330 people, in a significant increase from the 172 executed last year and the 196 executed in 2022.

HOUSTON (AP) — The number of executions in the U.S. remained near historic lows in 2024 and was mostly carried out in a small group of states, including Alabama, which became the first state to use nitrogen gas as an execution method, according to an annual report on capital punishment. The report by the Death Penalty Information Center was released on Thursday, the same day that Oklahoma conducted the nation’s 25th and final execution of the year. Kevin Ray Underwood received a lethal injection Thursday morning for the killing of a 10-year-old girl that was part of a cannibalistic fantasy.

Death Sentences and Executions Remain Near Historic Lows Amid Growing Concerns about Fairness and Innocence.  President Biden and North Carolina Governor Consider Commutations of Death Rows to Remedy Systemic Problems. USA | The Death Penalty in 2024: Summary Four States Responsible for 76% of Executions   (Washington, D.C.) This year marked the tenth consecutive year where fewer than 30 people were executed (25) and fewer than 50 people were sentenced to death (26). High-profile cases of death-sentenced individuals garnered significant attention and new, unexpected supporters.  

An Oklahoma man who killed a 10-year-old girl is to be put to death on Thursday in the 25th and final execution in the United States this year. Kevin Ray Underwood, who turns 45 on Thursday, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 10:00 am Central Time (1600 GMT) at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Underwood, a grocery store clerk, was convicted of the 2006 rape and murder of Jamie Rose Bolin, the daughter of his neighbors in the town of Purcell, 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Oklahoma City.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma panel on Friday rejected a plea for clemency for a man convicted of torturing and killing a 10-year-old girl as part of a cannibalistic fantasy, paving the way for him to become the 25th and final person executed in the U.S. this year. Three members of Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted unanimously against clemency for Kevin Ray Underwood, who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Thursday, his 45th birthday.  An Indiana man, Joseph Corcoran, is set to die Wednesday for killing four men in 1997 in what would be the Hoosier State’s first execution in 15 years.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 4, 2024: At least 144 people including 4 women, 12 Afghan nationals, a Jewish-Iranian and a man with intellectual disabilities were executed in Iranian prisons. On average, more than four people were executed per day. In October 2024, the Islamic Republic carried out 166 executions, the highest number of monthly executions recorded by IHRNGO since 2007. The number of executions by Iran authorities has dramatically hiked under the shadow of conflict and the international community’s attention to Middle Eastern crises.

Saudi Arabia has executed more than 100 foreigners this year, according to an AFP tally indicating a sharp increase which one rights group said was unprecedented. The latest execution, on Saturday in the southwestern region of Najran, was of a Yemeni national convicted of smuggling drugs into the Gulf kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. That brought to 101 the number of foreigners executed so far in 2024, according to the tally which is compiled from state media reports.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 2, 2024: Amid escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, and under the cover of war propaganda, the Islamic Republic carried out at least 166 executions in October alone. This marks the highest number of executions recorded in a single month since Iran Human Rights began documenting executions in 2007. Among those executed were 13 Afghan nationals, six women, and an Iranian-German citizen.

This year, Saudi Arabia recorded the highest number of executions in its history, surpassing the previous record of 196 executions in 2022, as reported by the Human Rights Commission. With 197 executions recorded in 2024, the total number of executions carried out during the decade of King Salman bin Abdulaziz's rule, alongside Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has reached 1,336 .

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 2, 2024: At least 72 people were executed in Iran in September and 478 executions were recorded in 2024. Five Afghan nationals were amongst those executed. Of the 72 executions, 35 were for drug-related offences, 35 for murder and 2 for charges of moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth). Since Pezeshkian took office on 30 July, at least 179 people have been executed, an average of almost three executions per day.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); September 28, 2024: At least 14 men including two Afghan nationals were executed for murder and drug-related charges in Shiraz Central Prison on 16, 18, 23 and 25 September.  With previous reported executions, at least 19 men were hanged at the prison in the past fortnight. (IHRNGO has received reports of 36 executions but has be unable to independently verify 17 of them.)

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.