Death Penalty News

The case has highlighted the difficulty of distinguishing between the public demand for severe punishment and the legal treatment of suspects according to their age. TUNIS – Shock over the alleged collective rape of a 15-year-old girl in Tunis has revived debate in Tunisia over the severity of penalties for sexual violence against children, including renewed calls to reconsider the country’s abolition of the death penalty for rape.

Iran has executed at least 29 people arrested in connection with the widespread protests in January, more than half of whom were not accused of killing anyone, with some put to death in public in what rights groups describe as a campaign to deter further dissent. The findings are contained in a new joint report by Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran examining executions following the nationwide protests that erupted in late 2025 and January 2026.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 5 September 2026: At least 82 people were executed in August 2026, including 40 for murder, 34 for drug-related offences and eight for security-related charges. Amongst those executed were six women, marking the highest monthly total recorded for female executions in 2026. Three protesters arrested in connection with the January nationwide protests were also amongst those executed. In the first eight months of 2026, IHRNGO has recorded 528 executions, including 18 women, 20 foreign nationals and 91 ethnic minorities. The 2026 executions also include 31 protesters (29 from the January protests and two from “Woman, Life, Freedom”), 13 political prisoners affiliated with banned opposition groups and 14 espionage defendants.

In August 2026, the human rights situation in Iran witnessed a catastrophic deterioration. According to data compiled by Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM), a total of 92 executions were documented during this month, reflecting an alarming surge in the clerical regime’s use of the death penalty to stifle dissent. Of these 92 executions, 85 were carried out secretly without any official announcement by the judiciary or state media, while only seven executions, including that of one woman, were officially acknowledged. 

Iranian authorities have executed 18-year-old Baloch child offender Meysam Irandegani at Iranshahr Central Prison in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Irandegani was 14 years old at the time of the alleged offense. According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the execution was carried out at dawn on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at Iranshahr Central Prison. Irandegani was arrested approximately four years and two months ago, at the age of 14, following an altercation at the auto repair shop where he worked in Khash.

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) - “Effective July 1”: It’s a phrase we’ve heard over and over. Now, that date is here. Laws passed in the 2026 legislative session will take effect starting Wednesday. Sen. Joey Filligane says a few of the laws enforce stricter penalties. The goal isn’t to put more people behind bars, but actually the exact opposite.

2,707 executions worldwide in 2025, a record for over 40 years. Every year, Amnesty International releases a report detailing the use of the death penalty from the previous year. In this year’s report, there was a staggering rise in executions and death sentences, carried out by a handful of governments determined to rule by fear. Here, we provide the details on the main findings from the report, at a global and regional level.

A 14-year-old in Yunnan province has been convicted of intentional homicide and rape, and sentenced to life in prison. The victim's family argue he deserves the death penalty. In late April, an unusual court trial in China's southwestern Yunnan province led to a landmark ruling, where a local court found a minor guilty of intentional homicide and rape, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.    At the time of the crime, the defendant was 14 years old. It marked the first time such a severe sentence was handed down to a minor in China.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) reported on Thursday that at least 44 protesters including two women and three teenagers who were reportedly under the age of 18 at the time of arrest, have been sentenced to death in relation to the January 2026 protests. Hundreds more remain at risk of death penalty charges and sentences.  In a meeting with judicial authorities this morning, Iran’s Head of Judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje’i urged the swift implementation of death sentences and executions. Nine protesters have been executed in relation to the protests thus far, all of them since 19 March.

Saudi Arabia’s execution of more than 2,000 people over the last decade in many cases violates Saudi and international law and belies the government’s claims of reform, 36 groups including Human Rights Watch said today. The following is their statement:  As of early April 2026, the number of executions carried out by Saudi Arabia since King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s accession to the throne on January 23, 2015—and the subsequent appointment of his son, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, on June 21, 2017—has surpassed 2,000, according to the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR), marking a stark escalation in the use of capital punishment under their rule. 

Mohsen Eslamkhah, a 20-year-old Kurdish citizen who was arrested in connection with the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising in Bukan, has been sentenced to death on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mahabad. Eslamkhah is currently held in Bukan Prison alongside two other political prisoners facing execution: Rauf Sheikh-Maroufi and Mohammad Faraji. An informed source who spoke to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) said: “Mohsen Eslamkhah was identified by security forces in 2022 due to his participation in the Women, Life, Freedom protests in Bukan. His family home was raided several times by these forces in an attempt to arrest him. He was 16 years old at the time and, due to pressure from security bodies and fear of arrest, he was forced to leave Iran and lived in the Kurdistan Region [of Iraq] until 2025.”

A documented report on executions, arrests, torture, denial of medical care, pressure on families, asset confiscation, and systematic restrictions on the right to defend In late February and March 2026, a set of field data, identified cases, recorded statistics, and official statements indicates that repression in Iran has continued simultaneously across multiple dimensions, including executions, widespread arrests, pressure on prisoners, restrictions on access to legal counsel, and judicial and economic measures against individuals. Severe restrictions on information and the lack of official disclosure regarding many cases have made it difficult to fully assess the scope of these developments.

LAS VEGAS — A man who once stood as the youngest person on Nevada’s death row has officially transitioned from a life behind bars to a life under supervision, following his release from High Desert State Prison last month. Edward Michael Domingues, 49, was released on parole on Feb. 13, 2026. His freedom marks the end of 32 consecutive years of incarceration for the 1993 murders of Arjin Chanel Pechpho and her 4-year-old son, Jonathan Smith. Since his release, the case has ignited a renewed debate over Nevada’s victim notification systems. Tawin Eshelman, the mother and grandmother of the victims, confirmed that the family was never formally notified of the parole hearing that led to Domingues' freedom.

Human Rights Watch said in its annual report that Saudi authorities carried out an unprecedented wave of executions in 2025, following trials that largely failed to meet standards of fairness and due process, while continuing to suppress freedom of expression and arbitrarily detain dissidents and activists. According to the report, Saudi authorities carried out at least 322 executions by early December 2025—the highest number recorded in the country’s modern history. The organization confirmed that among those executed were two individuals convicted of alleged crimes committed when they were under the age of 18, in direct violation of the international human rights law ban on executing children.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 19 February 2026: At least 26 protesters have been sentenced to death and hundreds more, including juveniles, are facing death penalty charges following the bloody massacre of the recent nationwide protests. At the same time, defendants and their families are being subjected to pressure and threats to prevent them from publicising their cases.  This is while on 16 February, the head of judiciary reiterated orders to “prosecute and punish the main perpetrators of the unrest and terrorist acts” and to “act decisively and without any leniency.” In a press conference held the next day, the judiciary spokesperson announced that 8,843 indictments had been issued in relation to the nationwide protests. 

The Iranian authorities must immediately halt all plans to execute eight individuals sentenced to death after being convicted of committing offences during the January 2026 nationwide protests, Amnesty International said today.  The organization is urging authorities to quash their convictions and death sentences, and promptly put an end to expedited torture-tainted grossly unfair trials against at least 22 others in connection to the uprising.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 31, 2025: As 2025 draws to a close, Iran is ending the year with more reported executions than in any other year since the late 1980s. While the final execution numbers for 2025 are still being verified, a process made arduous by Iran’s lack of judicial transparency, the available evidence already shows that more than 700 of the at least 1,500 people executed, were for drug-related offences. Those executed are overwhelmingly from the most marginalised sectors of Iranian society, including people living in poverty, ethnic minorities, foreign nationals and individuals with little or no access to effective legal defence.

A report by rights group HRANA reveals that at least 1,922 people were executed in Iran in 2025, a sharp rise from the previous year. An annual report by Washington-based rights group HRANA reveals that in 2025 at least 1,922 people were executed in Iran - more than double the number recorded the previous year. The report was published against the backdrop of Operation Rising Lion and the regime's announcements about the arrest of alleged spies who reportedly acted for Israel.

Saudi Arabia has surpassed its record for the number of executions carried out annually for a second year in a row. At least 347 people have now been put to death this year, up from a total of 345 in 2024, according to the UK-based campaign group Reprieve , which tracks executions in Saudi Arabia and has clients on death row. It said this was the “bloodiest year of executions in the kingdom since monitoring began”. The latest prisoners to be executed were two Pakistani nationals convicted of drug-related offences. Others put to death this year include a journalist and two young men who were children at the time of their alleged protest-related crimes. Five were women.

Saudi Arabia executed 345 people in 2024, rights groups say, double the rate of the past few years. The government in Riyadh, pictured, has rejected allegations of unfair trials and secret executions.  For a year, Mohamed Saad’s family had no idea whether he was alive or dead. The 28-year-old Egyptian fisherman had gone out on a routine trip off the coast of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and never returned. Relatives searched for months with no word from authorities. When they finally heard his voice, it was from a prison in Tabuk, northern Saudi Arabia, where Saad said he was being held on drug-smuggling charges.