Death Penalty News

The public will be able to watch the execution of a former US Army major by firing squad, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said. A Defense Department official told the BBC the execution of Nidal Hasan, who shot dead 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, would be livestreamed. It is believed it would be the first public execution in the US in almost a century. The decision to livestream it is "unprecedented in the modern era" and "on uncertain legal terrain", said John Mills, a lawyer who works with inmates sentenced to death.

WASHINGTON (DPN) — Nearly 17 years after an Army psychiatrist opened fire on unarmed soldiers preparing to deploy, the Pentagon has set a date to put him to death. Former Maj. Nidal Hasan is scheduled to be executed by firing squad at 1 p.m. Central Time on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, Texas—the same post where, on Nov. 5, 2009, he killed 13 people and wounded 32 others. If the sentence is carried out, it would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961 and the Army’s first by firing squad since World War II.

Kneeling next to a ditch, deep in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, a 22-year-old woman draws her last breath in a 'desert court' before she is shot in the back with an AK-47. Her executioner? Likely her hardline militant husband, in what the Taliban consider an 'honour killing'.  It took less than an hour to decide Najiba had been adulterous – although it has been suggested this accusation was fabricated to protect her husband's reputation. Adultery is a crime that deserves capital punishment under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Sharia law. Fourteen years on from her death, little is known about her story, like many women slowly being erased from the fabric of Afghan society. 

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Iranian authorities have reportedly executed an Afghan citizen, identified as Valijan Nourzay, at the central prison in Rafsanjan, according to the human rights organization Hengaw. Hengaw said in a statement on Sunday, September 6, that Nourzay was executed early Wednesday last week at Rafsanjan Central Prison. According to the organization, Nourzay had a severe mobility disability and was executed while in a wheelchair. Hengaw, citing informed sources, reported that Nourzay had been pursued by Iranian authorities three years ago over an alleged murder. He was reportedly seriously wounded after Iranian security forces opened fire on him in Rafsanjan before being arrested and later sentenced to death.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Iran carried out at least 109 executions in June, including five Afghan nationals, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, as the country’s use of the death penalty continues to rise. In a report, the Norway-based Iranian rights group, which tracks human rights abuses inside the country, said the figure represents an increase of at least 10% compared with the same month last year, when 99 people were executed. Hengaw did not disclose the identities of the five executed Afghans, their specific charges, or the prisons where the executions took place. According to the report, the majority of cases in June involved charges of premeditated murder (54 cases), followed by drug-related offences (44 cases) and political or espionage charges (5 cases).

The Penal Code promulgated by the Taliban in January 2026 creates a hierarchy of injuries inflicted upon women within Afghan households. Marzieh Hamidi, an athlete and refugee in France, denounces the inadequacy of the concrete measures taken by the international community. In Afghanistan, in 2026, a man can strike his wife as long as he does not break her bones. Fracturing an arm may be worth fifteen days in prison, whereas certain acts of violence are treated as minor offenses compared to other social infractions: the mistreatment of a camel is punishable by more than six months of incarceration. This is neither a rumor nor an exaggeration; it is precisely what is stipulated in the new Penal Code promulgated by the Taliban in January 2026, which came into force without public debate or consultation. This text categorizes injuries, regulates brutality, and institutionalizes a new structural legal inequality between men and women.

The Taliban has passed a new law in Afghanistan allowing husbands to beat their wives as long as there is no serious bodily harm in a new criminal code published by the group.  The 90-page penal code, signed by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's supreme leader, sets out different levels of punishments for people depending on their standing in society.  Article 9 of the code divides Afghan society into four categories: religious scholars (ulama), the elite (ashraf), the middle class, and the lower class. 

The U.S. Justice Department has indicated its intent to pursue the death penalty against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national accused of fatally shooting one West Virginia National Guard member and seriously wounding another near the White House in late November 2025. WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors said Wednesday they intend to seek the death penalty against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the 29-year-old Afghan national accused of ambushing two West Virginia National Guard members near the White House, killing one and gravely injuring the other. Lakanwal pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington to nine federal charges, including first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill and illegal possession of a firearm. The arraignment before Judge Amit Mehta came amid indications from prosecutors that they are working toward "death-eligible charges" — potentially through additional or amended counts — as the case advances.

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. 

The Taliban said six people were executed during the 2025 calendar year under orders issued by the group’s leader, while at least 1,118 others were publicly flogged by Taliban courts across Afghanistan. Hamdullah Fitrat, the Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, said in a statement posted on X on Thursday that the executions were carried out in the provinces of Farah, Nimruz, Badghis and Khost after court rulings and approval by the Taliban leader. He said the punishments were imposed under the principle of retribution, or qisas .

The Afghan national accused of killing one National Guard soldier and injuring another in a Thanksgiving week attack in Washington, D.C., could now face the death penalty after prosecutors moved the case to federal court. The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it has filed a criminal complaint against 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, charging him with two federal firearms offenses: transporting or shipping a stolen firearm in interstate commerce and transporting or receiving firearms in interstate or foreign commerce with intent to commit a crime. Lakanwal is also charged with first-degree premeditated murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and assault with intent to kill while armed.

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.

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.

Taliban Publicly Execute Man Convicted of Murder in Badghis  The Taliban on Thursday publicly executed a man convicted of murder in northwestern Afghanistan, marking the 11th such execution since the group’s return to power in 2021, according to the Taliban’s Supreme Court.  In a statement, the court said the man, identified as Ismail, was convicted of fatally shooting a man and a woman, Dost Mohammad and Gulbarga, in Jawand district of Badghis province.  The statement added that the verdict was upheld by three Taliban-run courts and reviewed by the group’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, before final approval. 

Four men have been publicly executed by the Taliban, with relatives of their victims shooting them several times in front of spectators at a sport stadium. Two men were shot around six to seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the centre of Afghanistan's Badghis province, witnesses told an AFP journalist in the city.  The men had been 'sentenced to retaliatory punishment' for shooting other men, after their cases were 'examined very precisely and repeatedly', the statement said.  'The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace but they refused.'

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.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); February 4, 2025: At least 87 people including 10 Afghan nationals, an Arab, 7 Kurdish, 4 Baluch minorities, were executed in prisons across Iran in January 2025. Only 5% of the executions were reported by official sources, the remaining 95% were verified and recorded by IHRNGO. The significant increase in the execution of Afghan nationals in 2024 has continued into 2025, with at least 10 Afghan executions recorded in the first month.

Iran executed three Afghan nationals on the first day of 2025 at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, according to two human rights watchdog organizations. Halvash reported that Iran executed two individuals from Afghanistan and one Baloch national in Bandar Abbas prison. They were executed without holding a last meeting with their families, the watchdog said. Another human rights watchdog, Henvaw, reported the execution of an Afghan national.

Taliban authorities in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday executed a convicted murderer by gunfire at a sports stadium, in the sixth public execution since their return to power. The condemned man was shot with three bullets to the chest by a member of the victim's family in front of thousands of spectators in Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, according to an AFP journalist at the scene. The evening before the execution the governor's office called on officials and residents to "attend this event" on social media.

Iran executed seven individuals on Wednesday, including three Afghan nationals, at Ghezel Hesar prison in the city of Karaj, according to the HENGAW Organization for Human Rights.  The executions also included two Kurdish prisoners, the rights group reported. HENGAW identified one of the Afghan nationals as Ajmal Azizi, who had been sentenced to death for “premeditated murder.”