Death Penalty News

A decade on from reforms to its religious police, Saudi Arabia might not be quite as tough as it once was on its Christian population, but it remains one of the toughest places in the world to believe in Jesus. In its annual ranking of global persecutors, Open Doors places Saudi Arabia as the 13th worst country for the persecution of Christians. While foreign-born Christians of a certain status are able to enjoy a very limited amount of religious freedom, the situation is far worse for those lower down in society and for native-born Saudis who wish to follow Christ.

Hadi Matar, the man who severely injured novelist Salman Rushdie in a 2022 stabbing attack, was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison — the maximum for attempted murder. Matar, 27, was found guilty of second-degree attempted murder in February for his attack on the author at the nonprofit Chautauqua Institution in New York state in August 2022. A knife-wielding Matar leapt onto the stage where Rushdie was about to give a lecture, stabbing the author multiple times in the face, neck, arm, abdomen and eye.

A Christian persecution watchdog has issued a warning about the increasing severity of global persecution, revealing that 365 million Christians currently experience ongoing discrimination due to their faith. Open Doors published these findings in its annual assessment of countries where believers encounter the most extreme persecution and discrimination. Here are the top ten nations where Christians are most under threat.

A prominent Christian leader, along with 14 other Christian leaders and their families, was arrested in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania earlier this month.  These leaders represent a significant portion of the nation’s small Christian community, estimated to be around 1,000 individuals.   Mauritania’s current penal code, specifically Article 306, imposes the death penalty for apostasy, with the provision for a lesser penalty if the accused repents. 

ROME – In just a little over a month, the curtain will rise on a keenly anticipated Synod of Bishops on Synodality in Rome. Though notoriously difficult to define, “synodality” generally refers to the idea of the whole Church journeying together, with members listening to one another in establishing priorities and policies. To date, much of the commentary about the looming synod has focused on what “listening” might imply vis-à-vis the standard canon of contested issues in Western Catholic debate – blessing same-sex unions and the ordination of women as deacons for the left, for example, or the traditional Latin Mass and the struggle against abortion on the right.

In early May, the Islamic Republic executed two men on charges of “insulting the Prophet” and “insulting Islamic sanctities.” Carrying out executions for blasphemy are very rare in Iran, as previous cases saw the sentences reduced by authorities. In 2002, the Iranian judiciary sentenced Hashem Aghajari, a university professor and historian, to death for apostasy for making a speech urging Iranians to "not blindly follow" Islamic clerics. Following a domestic and international outcry, his sentence was reduced in 2004 to five years in prison after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered a retrial. Two decades later, the judiciary hanged two Iranians on the same charges after an opaque judicial process and amid a dramatic surge in executions. 

Islamic Republic’s Judiciary reported the execution of Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare for offences against religion including “blasphemy” and “insulting the prophet.” Emphasising the inhumanity of the death penalty, Iran Human Rights strongly condemns its use against freedom of expression and beliefs, and calls on the international community for an urgent and serious response. Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “Islamic Republic authorities have once again demonstrated their medieval nature by executing two people for expressing their opinions. Today’s executions should be a turning point for countries with freedom of expression values and their relations with the Islamic Republic. The international community must make it clear that the use of the death penalty against the expression of opinion will not be tolerated. The international community’s failure to make a strong stand will be seen as a green light by the Islamic Republic and other like-minded people. This can se...

Six Libyans are facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity and proselytising under laws increasingly being used to silence civil society and human rights organisations, say activists. The women and men – some from Libya’s minority ethnic groups, including the Amazigh, or Berbers, in the west of the country – were separately detained in March by security forces. A US citizen was arrested by Libya’s Internal Security Agency (ISA) last month, but was released and is understood to have left the country. The six Libyans have been charged under article 207 of the penal code, which punishes any attempt to circulate views that aim to “alter fundamental constitutional principles, or the fundamental structures of the social order”, or overthrow the state, and anyone who possess books, leaflets, drawings, slogans “or any other items” that promote their cause.

“The devil is in details:” This is an apt description of the mandatory hijab laws of the Islamic Republic, laws that are so remote from modern life, so contrary to human rights and to Islamic Republic’s own constitution that it is difficult to believe that they truly exist. And these laws are enforced by the police, the paramilitary Basij force and the judiciary. The Islamic Republic is the only government and Iran is the only country in the world where hijab is legally mandatory. The government insists on enforcing mandatory hijab even though it is not a primary Sharia law, and this insistence has plunged the Islamic Republic into an all-encompassing crisis.

Javad Rouhi, 35, severely tortured in custody and faced unfair trial LONDON: Iran has sentenced a mentally ill man to death on blasphemy charges for allegedly burning a Qur’an during an anti-regime protest, with rights groups warning that the 35-year-old was severely tortured in custody and faced an unfair trial, The Guardian reported on Thursday.

Iran's judiciary said Tuesday it will "firmly punish" women who violate strict dress rules, as the United Nations warned Tehran is trying to crush protests by weaponising the death penalty. Demonstrations have swept Iran since the September 16 death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran for allegedly failing to adhere to the dress rules which demand women wear hijab headscarves.

A Christian convert from Islam has been sentenced to death by the Court of Appeal in Misrata, north-west Libya. The man became a Christian around four years ago, and has been arrested several times since then by Libyan militias who act as law enforcement in the disordered country. The death sentence for apostasy was applied as a result of his refusal to return to Islam. Libya’s General National Congress (the GNC, which sat from 2012 to 2014) passed a law stating that apostates from Islam who refuse to recant will be sentenced to death. All laws passed by the GNC were subsequently abolished by its replacement, the Libyan House of Representatives. However, the Libyan Supreme Court in Tripoli has ruled that the House of Representatives is illegal, allowing courts to continue to apply laws passed by the GNC, including the death penalty for apostasy. The death penalty for sane adult males who renounce Islam is compulsory in all schools of sharia (Islamic law).  The Maliki school – which...

MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — The man charged with stabbing Salman Rushdie on a lecture stage in western New York said in an interview that he was surprised to learn the accomplished author had survived the attack. Speaking to the New York Post from jail, Hadi Matar said he decided to see Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution after he saw a tweet last winter about the writer's planned appearance. “I don’t like the person. I don’t think he’s a very good person,” Matar told the newspaper. “He’s someone who attacked Islam. He attacked their beliefs, the belief systems.” Matar, 24, said he considered late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini “a great person” but wouldn't say whether he was following a fatwa, or edict, issued by Khomeini in Iran in 1989 that called for Rushdie’s death after the author published “The Satanic Verses.” Iran has denied involvement in the attack. Matar, who lives in Fairview, New Jersey, said he hadn't had any contact with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard....

Salman Rushdie's agent has said "the news is not good" after the author was stabbed at an event in New York state. He was attacked on stage, and is now on a ventilator and unable to speak, Andrew Wylie said in a statement, adding that the author, 75, may lose one eye. Mr Rushdie has suffered years of Islamist death threats after writing The Satanic Verses, published in 1988. Police detained a suspect named as Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey. New York State Police said the suspect ran onto the stage and attacked Mr Rushdie and an interviewer at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York state. Mr Rushdie was stabbed at least once in the neck and in the abdomen, authorities said. He was taken to a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, by helicopter. "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged," his agent said. No motive or charges have yet been confirmed by police, who are in the process of ob...

Saudi reforms are overshadowed by executions and tough treatment of dissidents Saudi Arabia is pushing to revamp its harsh justice system but reforms are overshadowed by executions and tough treatment of dissidents, raising questions about how much will change. The kingdom is known for its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law, which forms the basis of its judicial system. But in recent months it has moved ahead with reforms that analysts say could make its courts function more like others in the Middle East. That effort hinges on a series of new laws for sensitive issues like women's divorce rights and judges' power to determine criminal sentences. Announced last year by de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the measures, including the first written penal code, appear to align with Saudi Arabia's goal of opening up to the world and softening its extremist image. Even critics concede the changes could make Saudi courts more predictable, in some cases. But t...

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi - jailed and sentenced to 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam online" - has been freed, his wife says. "Raif called me. He is free," Ensaf Haidar told AFP news agency from Canada, where she fled with the couple's three children. The blogger's first 50 lashes caused a global outcry and he became an emblem of rights abuses in the country. There has been no official Saudi comment on his release. Mr Badawi's son Terad also tweeted: "My father is free." His sentence ended on 1 March. However, he is subject to a 10-year-travel ban and it is unclear whether he will face other restrictions. The NGO Reporters Without Borders said it would work to ensure he can join his family in Canada despite the ban. Mr Badawi, now 38, established the Liberal Saudi Network, a forum that sought to encourage debate on religious and political matters in Saudi Arabia, in 2008. In 2012, Mr Badawi was arrested in the city of Jeddah and charged with ...

Sessions court judge also imposes Rs0.1 million fine on Bashir Mastan for making the false claim PESHAWAR: An additional district and sessions court of Peshawar has awarded death sentence and Rs0.1 million fine to a man who claimed apostasy Muhammad Tahir Aurangzeb awarded the punishment to Bashir Mastan under Section 295-C/298. According to the prosecution, Mastan had made the claim in the jurisdiction of Inqilab police station of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's (K-P) provincial metropolis. The fake apostle was arrested on the said charges on September 7, 2020 and was subsequently tried for the same. In late September, a district and sessions court in Lahore awarded death sentence to a female principal of a school for claiming prophethood. RELATED | Lahore woman sentenced to death for claiming to be prophet The prosecution successfully proved the case against the convict, Salma Tanveer while the defendants failed to establish that the accused was not mentally stable when she had committed th...

On December 3, 2021, a violent mob at the Wazirabad Road in Sialkot city (Sialkot District) of Punjab tortured a Sri Lankan national, Priyantha Kumara, to death over blasphemy allegations before burning his body. Kumara was accused of blasphemy for allegedly tearing down stickers of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) from a wall of factory. Kumar was working as a senior manager at a leading Sialkot factory that manufactures and exports sports products, The last killing of a foreign national on blasphemy allegations was reported on July 29, 2020, when Tahir Naseem, a US citizen and an Ahmadi, was shot dead inside a District Court in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the presence of security and the presiding judge. A video of the attacker, identified as Faisal Khan, in handcuffs, shouting angrily that his victim as an “enemy of Islam” was posted on various social media platforms. Faisal Khan was taken into custody on the spot. Meanwhile, in a press release on February 2, 2021, the Lahore-b...