Death Penalty News

In this month’s pod­cast episode of 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context, DPIC’s Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Sam Levin, a cor­re­spon­dent with The Guardian who cov­ers crim­i­nal jus­tice and the legal sys­tem, and Jimmy Jenkins, a crim­i­nal jus­tice reporter for The Arizona Republic , about the chal­lenges they encounter when report­ing on the increas­ing secre­tive use of the death penal­ty. Mr. Jenkins has wit­nessed exe­cu­tions in Arizona and Mr. Levin has recent­ly inves­ti­gat­ed South Carolina’s return to exe­cu­tions after a 13-year pause.

Michelle Lyons' job wasn't for the fainthearted A woman who watched nearly 300 death row executions take place over 12 years opened up about how her macabre career impacted her life. For more than a decade, it was part of Michelle Lyons' job description to observe the final moments of hundreds of prisoners in the US state of Texas. She says the process never 'become mundane or normal', although she did become acclimatized to it - as she went on to watch so many executions that she 'can't recall' a lot of them.

Saudi Arabia has executed journalist Turki Al-Jasser after seven years in prison, following accusations of terrorism and treason, which activists say were related to his critical social media posts about the royal family. Human rights groups have condemned the execution, citing it as part of the kingdom’s crackdown on free speech. A prominent Saudi journalist, Turki Al-Jasser, has been executed after spending seven years in prison, The Associated Press reported, citing the Saudi Press Agency. Activists cited by the AP argued that the charges against him were politically motivated, primarily tied to his social media activity.

Iran on Monday held the first trial session for one of the two detained female journalists who reported on Mahsa Amini's death in custody last year, her lawyer said.  Months of nationwide protests erupted after Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died on September 16 following her arrest for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women. The journalists, Niloufar Hamedi, 30, and Elaheh Mohammadi, 36, could face the death penalty after they were detained for covering Amini's death and its aftermath. The pair are being tried separately by the revolutionary courts behind closed doors in Tehran. Mohammadi's trial began on Monday and Hamedi's is scheduled to start the following day, according to judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi.

The detention of Raman Pratasevich shows how far the Belarusian dictator-president will go to shut down protest On Sunday, three secret service agents and a Belarusian fighter jet “hijacked” a Ryanair plane from Athens as it crossed Belarusian airspace, just minutes before it reached Lithuania. The target was an opposition journalist, Raman Pratasevich, who helps run the Telegram channel Nexta, the main voice of the Belarusian opposition, many of whom are now in exile in Lithuania and Poland. This seems to be Belarus’s equivalent of a Litvinenko or Navalny moment – a message to the opposition that no one is safe from the regime, whether at home or abroad. RELATED |  Belarus reporter said 'death penalty awaits me here' — witness From detention in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, Pratasevich was forced to make what looks like a hostage video, “admitting” to organising mass disturbances and appearing as if he had been badly beaten. Pratasevich, however, is just one of hundreds of ...

Journalist Raman Pratasevich might face the death penalty after Belarusian authorities forced his plane to land in Minsk. A passenger on the flight described Pratasevich's reaction. Raman Pratasevich, a 26-year-old Belarusian national, was "upset" after realizing the Ryanair flight he was on was unexpectedly landing in Minsk, a witness told Radio Free Europe's Belarus department on Sunday. RELATED |  Belarus activist arrested after fighter jet intercepts his Ryanair flight "After a sudden turn of the plane, one guy [Pratasevich] started panicking, grabbing his head," the source, another passenger on the flight said. "There was no conflict up until the plane turned, no falling out, nothing." Belarus claims a bomb scare According to pro-government media in Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko himself ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to be scrambled and intercept the Ryanair jet over an alleged bomb scare.  No bomb was found on the plane. Instead, Bela...

(CNN) -- A leading Belarusian opposition activist has been arrested in Belarus after President Alexander Lukashenko ordered a fighter jet to escort his Ryanair plane to Minsk, according to Pull Pervogo, Belarusian state broadcaster. Raman Pratasevich, in exile and a vocal critic of President Alexander Lukashenko's regime, was detained at Minsk airport, the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Sunday. The original flight route was Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has demanded Belarus releases Pratasevich. Nauseda called the incident "abhorrent" and an "unprecedented event" in a tweet. He said a "civilian passenger plane flying to Vilnius was forcibly landed in Minsk." The Belarusian "regime is behind the abhorrent action," he tweeted and demanded Pratasevich is freed "urgently." Pratasevich is the founder of the Telegram channel Nexta which was broadly used to organiz...

On April 11 2020, four journalists were sentenced to death by the Houthi-led rebel Government in Yemen. The journalists were convicted of spying and “broadcasting rumours, fake news, and statements in support of the enemy Saudi Arabia.”  The situation has attracted an outpouring of concern from over 150 non-governmental groups, including the World Organization Against Torture. Amnesty International, an advocate for human rights, reports accounts of brutality and inadequate holding conditions.  The case will undoubtedly discourage local journalism from speaking out against the Houthi rebel administration and further exacerbate the strain on freedoms in Yemen. The verdict came from the specialised criminal court in Houthi-controlled Sanaa which has no legal or internationally recognised jurisdiction. Al Jazeera referenced lawyers and subject matter experts who stated that defence lawyers were excluded from the courtroom and that the trial did not meet fair trial s...

Cairo, Egypt An Egyptian court has sought the death penalty for six men including three journalists charged with endangering national security by spying for Qatar. The verdict against former president Mohamed Mursi, who is charged in the same case, was postponed until June 18 – when the final ruling for all those on trial is due. A decision in his case had already been postponed last month to allow for more consultations. The death sentences have been referred to Egypt’s top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for a non-binding opinion. Two of the journalists – Jordanian national Alaa Omar Sablan and Ibrahim Mohammed Helal – work for Al Jazeera. The third, Asmaa Al Khateeb is a reporter for Rassd, a pro-Muslim Brotherhood news network. They were sentenced in abstentia. Reports say that sentences for those tried in abstentia are automatically dismissed, pending a new trial should they return to Egypt. One of those convicted, Ibrahim Helal, has been quoted...

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi signed a new anti-terrorism law Sunday that calls for the death penalty and life sentences for some offenses while also threatening hefty fines for "false reporting" on terror attacks. Sissi promised in June to strengthen Egypt's anti-terror laws after a bomb killed the country's top prosecutor. He blamed that attack on the Muslim Brotherhood, a group his government has labeled as a terrorist organization and cracked down upon since he led the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Under the new law, those who form or lead a terror group face punishment up to death. Financing terrorism can bring a life sentence, while inciting a terrorist act or preparing to incite an attack are also subject to prison terms. For journalists, going against the official version of an attack can mean fines of between $25,000 and $64,000. The original draft of the law called for jailing journalists, but that portion...

The death penalty remains in many parts of the globe, while around the world people are imprisoned for decades at a time. While trials, sentences and executions often make the headlines, other features of the death penalty and life imprisonment are largely unknown. The focus could be on such subjects as individual stories, investigations into prison conditions or wider considerations about the laws and regulations about the death penalty. We are looking for entries published anywhere in the world between 1 April 2013 and 30 April 2014 , in any media format, in Arabic, English or Russian . Winners will receive an expenses-paid two-day trip to London in October 2014, including a one-day visit to the offices of The Guardian newspaper. There they will be able to see the paper being put together, meet journalists working on relevant issues and receive advice and feedback on their articles. Winning articles will also be published by PRI on its website. Full d...