Death Penalty News

Nearly half of all exe­cu­tions to date in 2025 in Iran (244) and Saudi Arabia (50) have been for drug-relat­ed crimes, track­ing close­ly pat­terns doc­u­ment­ed by Harm Reduction International (HRI) for 2024.  According to HRI’s new report, The Death Penalty for Drug Offenses: Global Overview 2024, the use of the death penal­ty for drug-relat­ed crimes reached ​“cri­sis lev­els” in 2024. At least 615 peo­ple were known to be exe­cut­ed on drug-relat­ed charges world­wide, 607 of which took place in Iran (at least 485 ) and Saudi Arabia ( 122 ). This marks a 32% increase from 2023 and the ​“dead­liest year on record” since 2015, accord­ing to HRI. Drug-relat­ed exe­cu­tions account­ed for about 40% of all known exe­cu­tions world­wide in 2024 and are on track to reach almost half of all exe­cu­tions in 2025.

Hong Kong narcotics bureau tipped off its counterpart in Singapore after suspecting a drug trafficking syndicate sent people to city state A Hong Kong man who was arrested in Singapore after HK$3 million (US$384,260) worth of suspected crystal meth was discovered in two stone figurines could face the death penalty in the city state.

Programme on state television discloses new details and punishments from espionage cases as part of a campaign marking National Security Education Day Authorities in Beijing have revealed that a Chinese scientist who was convicted in 2015 of selling state secrets to foreign spy agencies was executed in 2016, one of several “shocking” spy cases.

In January, Malaysia’s Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the cabinet would discuss the findings of a study on alternatives to the mandatory death penalty, which applies to crimes including drug trafficking, treason, and murder. After almost two years without any progress on death penalty reform, this is a welcome development. For more than 40 years, Amnesty International has campaigned against the death penalty around the world, and more than two-thirds of countries have abolished it in law or in practice. Here’s why Malaysia – and other countries that retain the death penalty – should show human rights leadership and set an example by scrapping it once and for all. Simply put, governments should not kill people. Or as the United Nations Human Rights Committee has put it, “the death penalty cannot be reconciled with full respect for the right to life.” Every single human being has the inherent right to life and governments have an obligation to protect lives, not take them. T...

A Hong Kong man who suffered from hallucinations and other mental health problems has been executed in mainland China where he was sentenced to death in 2017 for drug trafficking. The execution came hours after his parents visited him for the first time since he was detained five years ago. Fifty-year-old Wu Chi-man, who pleaded guilty to dealing 15 kilograms of methamphetamine in Shenzhen in March 2016, received a lethal injection in the early hours of Friday, a volunteer in Hong Kong who helped on his case told HKFP. Wu’s 80-year-old father and 78-year-old mother talked to their son in prison over a glass barrier hours before the execution. They had not seen Wu for years until the mainland authorities informed them weeks ago about a chance to visit the detained Hongkonger, and they knew it could be the last time to meet him. “They said that Wu looked healthy and emotionally stable, at the outset at least,” said Hannah, a volunteer at Voice for Prisoners who has been assisting Wu’s fa...

A Hong Kong man with a history of mental illness may soon be executed in mainland China, where he was sentenced to death in 2017 for drug trafficking. His elderly parents are now in Shenzhen waiting for their first – and perhaps last – visit to him as they made a desperate appeal to the authorities to spare their son. Fifty-year-old Wu Chi-man has been on death row for almost five years, after he admitted dealing 15 kilograms of methamphetamine in Shenzhen in March 2016. He appealed against his sentence in late 2017 but it was upheld. Wu’s family had not seen him for years until they were notified by mainland authorities about three weeks ago that a meeting could be arranged next Thursday. Believing it may be the only chance to see him, Wu’s 80-year-old father and 78-year-old mother packed their bags quickly and brought along bottles of medication they needed for their indefinite trip to Shenzhen. “We are quite helpless and clueless, we don’t know what will happen. Everything is still ...

Chinese authorities have announced that they will formally charge 12 anti-government protesters with border violations after they were arrested trying to flee Hong Kong in a speedboat three months ago. Officials in Shenzhen’s Yantian district stated on Friday that “The investigation of 12 Hong Kong people who were found unlawfully crossing the border has ended,” allowing the court case to proceed. The individuals have been held incommunicado in Shenzhen’s Yantian Detention Center since August 23, accused of unlawfully crossing the border and organizing an illegal border crossing, crimes that could see them sentenced to up to 7 years in prison. However, they are potentially facing a more significant charge of being separatists, which, in certain cases, can result in the death penalty. A relative of one of the individuals detained has claimed that the legal process the detainees have been put through is not fair.  Human Rights Watch claims that Chinese authorities have threatened the...

Human Rights Watch Australia Director Elaine Pearson says China is acting as a threat to human rights globally. “China is a very serious human rights violator. It’s committing mass atrocities from Xinjiang, to dismantling democracy in Hong Kong and I think Australia and many governments around the world, quite rightly, are very concerned about those abuses and are taking steps to raise that concern publicly with China," Ms Pearson told Sky News host Andrew Bolt. “We should not let the Chinese government bully Australia and use economic clout as a means of getting appeasement or silence on human rights. Human rights are not negotiable.  “This is not just something that is happening far away on the other side of the world, this is potentially has ramifications for Australia. “We’re also seeing the Chinese government weaken and try to undermine the UN system, so I think we’re seeing China act as a real threat to human rights globally. “I think its deeply problematic that we’ve become...

Canada has urged China to release 2 high-profile Canadian detainees and grant clemency to several other Canadians sentenced to death by Chinese courts, the Canadian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during talks in Rome on Tuesday that the cases of former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor remain a top priority for the Canadian government. Their arrests have been widely viewed as retribution for Canada’s detainment at the request of the United States of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co, in late 2018. “Canada continues to call for immediate consular access to Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor. China’s actions are in violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” Champagne said in a statement issued after meeting, which took place on the sidelines of Wang’s visits to Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, France and Germany. ...

The federal government is warning Australians that if they travel to China, they could be arbitrarily detained. The Australian government has updated its China travel advice to reflect the risk of being arbitrarily detained for endangering national security. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade changed its advice on Tuesday, although the Level 4 "do not travel" alert remains in place.  "If you're already in China, and wish to return to Australia, we recommend you do so as soon as possible by commercial means," the advice read. "Authorities have detained foreigners because they're 'endangering national security'. Australians may also be at risk of arbitrary detention. Do not travel to China." The Canadian government issued a similar warning about travelling to China last year after a Canadian drug suspect was sentenced to death.  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed "extreme concern" th...

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Tuesday that the controversial extradition bill that has led to mass protests in the city is “dead.” Addressing the weeks-long drama during a news conference, she reiterated that there is no plan to restart the legislation. She described the work to amend the bill as a “total failure.” Lam, meanwhile, said she took full responsibility for what has happened in the city, according to a translation of her address. Political tensions in Hong Kong have risen in recent weeks amid protests over an extradition bill that would have allowed some arrested in the city to be sent for trial in mainland China. The bill had been suspended after a first round of demonstrations, but protesters continued taking to the street with calls for it to be withdrawn completely. “I have almost immediately put a stop to the (bill) amendment exercise, but there are still lingering doubts about the government’s sincerity, or worries whether the government will rest...

A New Zealand court has temporarily halted the extradition of a murder-accused man to China over concerns about human rights and torture. Korean citizen and New Zealand resident Kyung Kim is accused of killing a woman while on holiday in Shanghai in 2009. In the first case of its kind between the two countries, China’s government requested he be extradited in 2011. Kim, who moved to New Zealand at 14, denies the charge and has repeatedly challenged the extradition, raising concerns about the risk of torture. New Zealand’s previous justice minister twice approved the extradition after diplomatic assurances Kim would not be tortured or face the death penalty, and one successful appeal. However, the country’s penultimate judicial body, the Court of Appeal, on June 11 released a ruling again quashing the government’s decision and ordering it again be reconsidered. “New Zealand has obligations under international law to refuse to return a person to a jurisdiction in w...

Tens of thousands of people took to Hong Kong's streets on Sunday in a last bid to block a proposed extradition law that would allow suspects to be sent to China to face trial, with police bracing for the biggest march in the city in 15 years. Police chiefs called for public restraint, government-funded broadcaster RTHK reported, as they mobilised more than 2,000 officers for a march that organisers expect to draw more than 500,000 people. That would make it the biggest rally since a similar number turned out in 2003 to challenge government plans for tighter national security laws, which were later shelved. Early indications suggested the crowds could reach several hundred thousand, with underground rail stations jammed with people trying to join the rally, which will start at 3 pm (0700 GMT) in Victoria Park. Protesters who arrived early chanted "no China extradition, no evil law" while others called for Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam to st...