Death Penalty News

Post Oct 7th, 2023, first came the words of outrage followed by encouragement and sympathy. Numerous heads of state flew in to tour Gaza-adjacent Israeli communities, where 1,200 men women and children were slaughtered, raped, beheaded, and taken hostage by Hamas bloodthirsty terrorists. Then an eerie silence as Hamas supporters, extreme haters of Israel, al Jazeera and a tsunami of social media bots, flipped the script, embedding Israel as the evil doer. Their crime? Counterattacking against Hamas and its 500 km underground city of terror. UN agencies, pious international courts, special rapporteurs, human rights NGOs, BBC-led hit pieces and social media bots and influencers, demonized a traumatized Jewish nation and taught the world to spell Zionist=N-A-Z-I.

The 81-year-old Franco-Algerian writer’s imprisonment exposes both the brutality of Algiers and the moral cowardice of Paris. PARIS — Boualem Sansal has spent his life fighting for the right to speak freely. Today, at 81, suffering from cancer, he is paying the price for that courage — imprisoned in Algeria after a sham trial, condemned for doing what he has always done: telling the truth about power. In March 2025 , an Algerian court sentenced the Franco-Algerian writer to five years in prison for “undermining national unity” and “attacking state security.” His crime was to speak — calmly and publicly — about the legacy of Algeria’s authoritarianism and the suffocating control its rulers still exert over public life. For that, he was seized, tried without due process, and locked away.

A French court commuted the sentence of Serge Atlaoui, who was allowed to return to France last week after 18 years on death row in Indonesia, where he was convicted of drug offenses. The ruling opens the door for a presidential pardon. A Frenchman reprieved after 18 years on death row in Indonesia on drug offenses will have to serve 30 years in jail after being repatriated last week, a French court ruled Wednesday, February 12. The ruling – which was largely a technicality and not based on the case itself – now gives Serge Atlaoui the chance to ask for a softening of his sentence or a pardon from President Emmanuel Macron, which could see him released after a two-decade ordeal.

Demonstrators gathered in Paris on Saturday to demand the release of Benjamin Brière, a French national who was arrested in Iran in May 2020 and accused of spying. His family denies the accusations and his sister told FRANCE 24 that her brother was being held illegally without a trial. “We want to show that Benjamin Brière exists, that he’s not just a passive hostage waiting for something to happen,” his sister Blandine Brière, 31, told FRANCE 24. Brière’s loved ones have been consumed with worry and a sense of powerlessness since he was detained in May 2020 near the Turkmenistan-Iran border. Brière, 36, was on an overland trip across Asia when he was arrested near the Iranian border and accused of spying. His sister however said her brother had not yet had a court hearing. “There is no valid reason to keep him where he is,” said Blandine. “It’s wrongful confinement." Nearly 2 years after his arrest, demonstrators gathered for a solidarity protest in Place du Trocadero in Paris to...

At a ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of France’s abolition of the death penalty, French President Emmanuel Macron announced an initiative to advance worldwide abolition of capital punishment. The announcement also coincided with World Day Against the Death Penalty, which is observed annually on October 10. In January 2022, France will assume the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. Macron said, “As part of the French presidency of the European Union, we will organize … a meeting in Paris at the highest level, bringing together civil societies from countries that still apply the death penalty … in order to convince their leaders of the importance and urgency of abolishing it.” Macron spoke of France’s role as a leader in ending the death penalty, saying that, in 1981, it became the 35th nation to abolish capital punishment. Today, he said, “106 states have so far taken this path, while 50 others have a de jure or de facto moratorium on executions.” Macro...

French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday he will lead a global campaign to end state-sponsored executions. PARIS (Reuters) - France will launch a campaign for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty as part of its upcoming presidency of the European Union, President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday. A conference will be held in Paris gathering civil society groups from countries where the death penalty is in use or suspended, Macron said in a speech to mark the 40th anniversary of France’s abolition of the punishment. France, which will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2022, will also work with other member states towards a United Nations resolution requiring countries to report each year the number of death penalty sentences given and executions carried out, he said. Macron was speaking alongside Robert Badinter, the justice minister of late President Francois Mitterrand who steered the abolition of the death penalty through the Fre...

The head of the Islamic State group in the Sahara has been killed by French troops, President Emmanuel Macron has said. Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi formed Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) in 2015. The group is blamed for many attacks in the region, including the targeted killing of French aid workers in 2020. Mr Macron called Sahrawi's death "another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel". The Sahel is a vast, three million sq km (1.16 million sq miles) area that stretches across Africa south of the Sahara desert, from Senegal in the west to Eritrea in the east. Mr Macron did not disclose the location or any details of the operation. French Defence Minister Florence Parly tweeted that Sahrawi died after a strike by France's Operation Barkhane force, which fights Islamist militants in the Sahel, mostly in Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso. She added that it was "a decisive blow against this terrorist group", and that the ...

Lahore (Pakistan) (AFP) -- At least seven Pakistan police officers and special rangers were taken hostage Sunday by supporters of a radical Islamist party, officials said, after days of violent anti-France protests. Rioting has rocked the country since Monday, when the leader of the now-banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was detained in the second biggest city Lahore after calling for the expulsion of the French ambassador. The protests have paralysed cities and led to the deaths of six policemen, prompting the French embassy to recommend all its nationals temporarily leave the country. "The TLP members are holding five police officers and two rangers hostage," said Rana Arif, a police spokesman in Lahore told AFP, referring to the country's paramilitary force. Firdous Ashiq Awan, a spokeswoman for the Punjab provincial government, said 12 policemen had been abducted and taken to a TLP mosque in Lahore, where hundreds of supporters were gathered. "Violent groups...

France has urged all its citizens in Pakistan to leave the country temporarily amid violent anti-French protests across the country. The country's embassy in Pakistan warned of "serious threats to French interests in Pakistan", saying protests were increasing nationwide. Two police officers died this week in renewed clashes with protesters. The protests were sparked months ago after France defended the right to show cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. In October last year, French President Emmanuel Macron strongly defended freedom of expression after the beheading of a teacher who showed such cartoons during a class discussion. This prompted anger in parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan, where there were calls for a boycott of French goods. Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are widely regarded as taboo in Islam, and are considered highly offensive by Muslims. The protests escalated this week after the Pakistani government arrested Saad Hussain Rizvi, leader of the...

Click here to Google translate this article into your own language Les proches et avocats de Fabien Azoulay, un Français condamné à 16 ans de prison par la justice turque pour détention de stupéfiants, se disent inquiets pour la sécurité du détenu et exigent son transfert en France. "Il a été victime de violences aggravées commises par un codétenu, qui lui a infligé des brûlures en raison de son homosexualité et de son appartenance à la religion juive", ont indiqué lundi dans un communiqué ses avocats, évoquant pour la première fois publiquement le cas de ce Français de 43 ans, détenu depuis quatre ans en Turquie. Lors d'un court voyage en 2017 à Istanbul pour réaliser des implants capillaires, Fabien Azoulay avait été arrêté pour avoir acheté sur internet une fiole de GBL, un solvant utilisé comme stimulant. "C'est un détergent pour les jantes de voiture, qui avait été interdit en Turquie six mois plus tôt, ce qu'ignorait mon client. Il s'est fait livre...

Blasphemy is a criminal act in conservative Pakistan, where laws allow for the death penalty for anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures. A Pakistani man who attacked the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine last September was radicalised by videos of preachers in his home country and anti-France demonstrations at the time, a report said Wednesday. The 26-year-old had spent the days leading up to his knife attack watching extremist preachers on YouTube and TikTok denouncing France and Charlie Hebdo, Le Parisien newspaper reported, citing the police investigation. “I couldn’t eat. I was crying watching the videos,” Zaheer Hassan Mahmood told investigators.  Weeks before, the magazine had republished cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which were considered blasphemous by many Muslims, to mark the start of a trial of men linked to a 2015 attack on its offices. Mahmood said he did not realise the magazine had moved offices after the 2015 attack and presumed the t...

Moments after killing his bank manager for alleged blasphemy, Ahmad Nawaz waved to his supporters from the rooftop of a police station. “Long live Tajdar-e-Khatm-e-Nubuwwat [King of the Finality of Prophethood]. Beheading is the only punishment of a blasphemer. We are servants of the Prophet,” he cried to the cheers of more than 200 gathered at the building in Quaidabad, Punjab province. Videos shared on social media showed the crowd kissing Nawaz as he rallied in the streets of Quaidabad. A policeman filmed the speeches with his smartphone as a local cleric asked all to disperse peacefully. “I am hundred percent satisfied with the police action. If the police violates, the lovers can gather just like today. I request all to trust your clerics. We have asked for a blasphemy investigation,” said Zafar-ul-Haq Bandialvi, holding a microphone. “Police promised that Nawaz is to be charged for attempted murder, which is a bailable offence, and not under the Anti-Terror Act. He’ll be released...