Death Penalty News

Amnesty International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) unreservedly condemn the execution of Pannir Selvam Pranthaman in Singapore on 8 October 2025, the latest in a string of arbitrary deprivations of life in the country.  Amnesty International and ADPAN renew their call on the government of Singapore to urgently establish a moratorium on executions as a first step towards full abolition of this cruel punishment. 

The Georgia Supreme Court has denied a constitutional challenge to the state’s statutory requirement that a capital defendant must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he or she is intellectually disabled before being declared ineligible for the death penalty. In an 8-1 ruling issued on June 1, 2021, the Georgia high court affirmed the conviction and death sentence imposed on Rodney Young. Young had argued that requiring a capital defendant to meet the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard — the harshest in the country — created an unacceptable risk that Georgia would execute individuals whose intellectual disability should protect them from capital punishment. Three justices issued a concurring opinion disassociating themselves from the reasoning of the lead opinion but agreeing with the outcome. One justice concurred only in the result. Justice Charles J. Bethel dissented. Young’s lawyer, Brian Stull, from the ACLU Capital Punishment Project, called the Georgia court’s ruling “devastati...

"The cabinet agreed to amend the colonial-era Dangerous Drugs Act of 1952 to give courts a choice in sentencing." KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's cabinet has agreed unanimously to do away with the mandatory death penalty for drug traffickers, a minister said on Monday, but the decision still has to be approved by parliament. The cabinet agreed to amend the colonial-era Dangerous Drugs Act of 1952 to give courts a choice in sentencing, Azalina Othman Said, a minister in the prime minister's department, said in a written parliamentary response. Capital punishment is mandatory in Malaysia for murder and drug trafficking, among other crimes. A total of 651 Malaysians have been sentenced to death since 1992 - most of them for drug offences, Azalina said. In March, human rights group Amnesty International ranked Malaysia tenth in the use of death penalty among the 23 countries that carried out capital punishment last year. "While the annou...

Kim Jong Un's half-brother A chemist's report that shows the banned VX nerve agent was used to kill the half brother of North Korea's leader needs further scrutiny, a lawyer for 1 of the 2 women accused of poisoning the man said Friday as he examined evidence ahead of a trial set for October. High Court Judge Azmi Ariffin set an Oct. 2 trial date for Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, who are accused of smearing Kim Jong Nam's face with banned VX nerve agent at a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13. He died about 20 minutes later. The women, who face a possible death penalty if convicted, say they were duped into thinking they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden-camera TV show. Prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad said he plans to call up to 40 witnesses, including 10 experts and a few foreigners. The women appeared in court wearing traditional Malay dresses, smiling at their lawyers and embassy officials. They...

Singapore's Changi Prison SINGAPORE: A Malaysian national, Prabagaran Srivijayan, was executed on Friday (Jul 14) at Changi Prison after being sentenced to death in 2014 for importing 22.24g of heroin, or diamorphine, into Singapore. He was arrested in April 2012 at Woodlands Checkpoint after two packets of the drug were recovered from the Malaysian-registered vehicle that he was driving, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said in a press release. Singapore’s highest court on Thursday dismissed an eleventh-hour motion to halt his execution. In dismissing the motion, Judges of Appeal Chao Hick Tin, Andrew Phang and Tay Yong Kwang called the attempt to halt Prabagaran’s execution because of proceedings in another country “an abuse of process”. Prabagaran’s lawyer had filed a motion on Tuesday seeking to delay the execution on the basis that the Malaysian has an appeal pending before the Court of Appeal in Kuala Lumpur.  “The judiciary of each country is entitl...

Prabagaran Srivijayan The family of Prabagaran Srivijayan, a Malaysian national, have been informed that his execution has been scheduled in Singapore for 14 July 2017. Against international law and standards, he was convicted of and sentenced to the mandatory death penalty in 2012 for drug-related offences. He has an appeal pending before the courts of Malaysia. The family of Prabagaran Srivijayan in Malaysia have received a letter from the authorities of Singapore dated 6 July 2017 informing them that his execution has been scheduled at Changi Prison Complex for a week later, 14 July.  A 29 year-old Malaysian national, Prabagaran Srivijayan was convicted of and sentenced to the mandatory death penalty on 22 July 2012 for attempting to import 22.24g of diamorphine into Singapore. Prabagaran Srivijayan has consistently maintained his innocence. He holds that he had no knowledge of the drugs that were found in the arm rest of a car he borrowed. Under Singaporean law...

Muhammad Ridzuan bin Md Ali Amnesty International today called on the Singapore authorities to halt the execution of a Singaporean man scheduled for Friday 19 May 2017 and to immediately re-establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. Muhammad Ridzuan Bin Md Ali, a 32 year old-Singaporean national, was sentenced to death on 10 April 2013 after he was convicted of trafficking diamorphine under the Misuse of Drugs Act.  His four subsequent appeals were rejected, most recently in December 2016. His family learned of the rejection of his clemency application on 15 May 2017. In 2013 the High Court judge found that Muhammad Ridzuan Bin Md Ali’s involvement was restricted to that of a “courier”.  Since November 2012, the courts of Singapore have had the discretion not to impose the death penalty in certain circumstances.  In drug trafficking cases, defendants may be spared the death penalty if they are found to ha...