Death Penalty News

Mogadishu (HOL) — Puntland authorities on Tuesday executed a woman convicted of murdering a 14-year-old girl after the victim’s family chose retributive justice under Islamic law, marking a rare application of the death penalty against a woman in the semi-autonomous region. The execution was carried out in Galkacyo, a divided city in central Somalia, after courts found Hodan Mohamud guilty of killing Sabirin Saylaan Abdille, a minor who had been working as a domestic helper.  Officials said the sentence was imposed under qisas , an Islamic legal principle that allows the family of a murder victim to demand the execution of the perpetrator instead of accepting financial compensation.

Hundreds of Muslims descended on a police station in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province Saturday, snatched a blasphemy suspect from his cell and took him outside and lynched him, police said. Senior police officer Babar Sarfaraz Alpa said a man identified only as Waris had been in police custody for desecrating pages of a copy of Islam's holy book, the Quran. He said Waris pasted images of himself, his wife and a knife on several pages of the book, displayed them and threw them about in the rural district of Nankana.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); January 22, 2023: Kamel Doudkanlu and Seyed Farhad Hosseini, sentenced to death for drug-related and murder charges, were executed in Salman Prison, West Azerbaijan province. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Salman Prison on January 19. Their identities have been established as Kamel Doudkanlu and Seyed Farhad Hosseini.

Iranian conservative politician and former diplomat Javad Larijani has defended stoning for adultery, saying it is a good Islamic law protecting “family values.” Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where people throw stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It is attested as a form of punishment for unlawful sexual intercourse.

Iranian authorities have hanged two men convicted of murder in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province in the latest executions carried out by the Islamic republic, the judiciary said Monday. Elias Raisi was found guilty of murder in a family dispute in 2020, and Ayoub Rigi of a killing using a military weapon over “personal differences” with the victim, said the judiciary's Mizan Online news website. They were put to death Saturday after the victims' families refused to grant them clemency under Islamic law, the chief prosecutor in the provincial capital Zahedan, Mehdi Shamsabadi, was quoted as saying.

A well-known Iranian director and a prominent Iranian actor have openly criticized the government for cracking down on protests triggered by the September death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi expressed his criticism in a video message on December 19 addressed to Iran’s minister of Islamic guidance. "You cannot keep someone's head under water and call his struggle to save his life 'disruption,'” Haghighi said in the video. "We are currently burying our loved ones; we don't have time to dance for you," the 53-year-old Iranian director added, referring to a request from the minister of Islamic guidance for artists to return to the stage. Most artists have canceled performances as a show of support for protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Amini. Security forces have met the demonstrators with brutal, and sometimes deadly force. Meanwhile, Iranian actor Shahab Hosseini addressed the authorities of the Islamic republ...

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 17, 2022: Yousef Mirzabeigi and Mohammadali Seyedi, two men sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, were executed in Qazvin Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Qazvin Central Prison (Choobdar) on December 15. Their identities have been established as 36-year-old Yousef Mirzabeigi (pictured) and Mohammadali Seyedi who were sentenced to qisas for murder. An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Yousef Mirzabeigi was arrested for the murder of his wife 10 years ago and Mohammadali was arrested four years ago.” At the time of writing, neither of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran. Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or circumstances due to a lack of grading in law.  Once a defendant has been convicted, the victim’s family are required to choose ...

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 16, 2022: Abolfazl Heidarzadeh, a man sentenced to death for drug-related charges, was executed in Zanjan Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Zanjan Central Prison on December 15. His identity has been established as 30-year-old Abolfazl Heidarzadeh, a driver from Kazeroun. Informed sources told Iran Human Rights that Abolfazl was arrested three years ago and sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court. At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran. More than 500 people including 2 juvenile offenders have been executed in 2022, the highest annual execution since 2017. Five Men Executed for Drug Charges in Arak Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 16, 2022: Five men sentenced to death for drug-related charges, have been executed in Arak Central Prison. According to HRANA news agency, at least five men were executed...

A doctor, rap artists and a footballer are among around two dozen Iranians who risk being hanged as Tehran uses capital punishment as an intimidation tactic to quell protests, rights groups say. The executions in the past week of Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, both 23 and the first people put to death over the protests, sparked an outcry, especially as Rahnavard was hanged from a crane in public rather than in prison. But campaigners warn that more executions will inevitably follow without tougher international action, with a dozen more people already sentenced to death over the protests and a similar number charged with crimes that could see them hanged. "Unless the political cost of the executions is increased significantly, we will be facing mass executions," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group. He accused Iran's leaders of using executions to "spread fear among people and save the regime from the nationwide ...

Iran says it has carried out a second execution linked to the anti-government protests engulfing the country. Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged "in public" early on Thursday in the city of Mashhad, the judiciary announced. A court convicted him of the charge of "enmity against God" after finding he had stabbed to death two members of the paramilitary Basij Resistance Force. Human rights groups have warned that protesters are being sentenced to death after sham trials with no due process. "Rahnavard was sentenced to death based on coerced confessions, after a grossly unfair process and a show trial. This crime must be met with serious consequences for the Islamic Republic," tweeted Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Norway-based Iran Human Rights. "Thousands of detained protesters, and a dozen death sentences already issued. There is a serious risk of mass-execution of protesters," he added. The first execution in connection with the unrest took pl...

The public execution was the first since the Islamic Emirate came to power. The individual was killed by the father of the victim. Following widespread reactions over a recent execution, the Islamic Emirate said that the execution of guilty people is a divine command and that no one should be concerned about it. A spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, Bilal Karimi, said that the execution, which happened on Wednesday in the western province of Farah, was carried out after many investigations and assessments. RELATED |  Taliban executes man convicted for murder RELATED |  Taliban lashed and flogged Afghans in crowded football stadiums for ‘adultery and gay sex’ “The execution yesterday took place after many investigations, which were aligned with Islamic (law). All sides should not have any concern in this regard and should respect it,” said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate. “The supreme leader spoke and said we have struggled this much and fought for 20 year...

CAIRO (AP) — Iranian authorities sentenced five people to death for allegedly killing a member of a paramilitary force affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, state media said Tuesday. Eleven others received lengthy prison sentences. The 13 men and three minors had been charged with killing Ruhollah Ajamian, a member of the Basij, a paramilitary volunteer branch of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, according to the report from IRNA, Iran’s state news agency. The five sentenced to death Monday were charged by Iran's Revolutionary Court, along with eight others. Three boys were charged by Iran's Criminal Court, according to the report. Judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi, who is cited in the report, provided no evidence to support any of the accusations. IRNA did not disclose the identities of the 16. It said their sentences can be appealed. The alleged killing took place In Karaj, near Tehran, on Nov. 12 when a group of men chased and attacked Ajamian with knive...

After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021, the UK government made a promise to take in those who had helped UK forces during the war, and those most vulnerable to persecution. But many of the most at-risk, including "thousands" of LGBT Afghans, were left behind, according to Nemat Sadat, the executive director of LGBT charity Roshaniya. Speaking to the Sky News Daily podcast with Niall Paterson, Sadat, who left Afghanistan in 2013 after hostility to his sexuality, said that "there's really no future left for LGBT people in Afghanistan". Homosexuality is currently illegal under Afghanistan's Islamic law, and transgender people are not recognised by the state. The punishment for being gay is the death penalty. "It's the probably the worst place to be an LGBT person. And under the Taliban rule, under Sharia law, the Taliban are continuing to entrap LGBT people. Once they find an LGBT person, they torture them," Sadat continued. "A...