Death Penalty News

A prominent Christian leader, along with 14 other Christian leaders and their families, was arrested in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania earlier this month.  These leaders represent a significant portion of the nation’s small Christian community, estimated to be around 1,000 individuals.   Mauritania’s current penal code, specifically Article 306, imposes the death penalty for apostasy, with the provision for a lesser penalty if the accused repents. 

A new report from the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom identifies 95 countries with some form of blasphemy law in effect, including five countries that impose the death penalty as the maximum sanction. A separate report from the commission records the text of the 95 laws criminalizing expressions that insult or offend religious feelings or show disrespect toward religious figures or symbols. The reports show blasphemy laws are not exclusive to any single region. They document blasphemy laws in 13 countries in the Americas, 28 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, 16 European nations, 18 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A secondary school student in the North Atlantic Ocean African country of Mauritania could be sentenced to death after she was arrested for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed. Local media in the country reports that Islamic authorities have demanded the death penalty for the student after she was arrested on charges of blasphemy. The student was reportedly arrested on Friday for writing an exam paper considered insulting to the Prophet in last month’s baccalaureate exams. A report in an online platform on Saturday noted that religious authorities demanded the death penalty if the young woman, who has not been named, is found guilty of blasphemy in court. The report states that Mauritania recently strengthened its blasphemy laws, prescribing the death penalty for Muslims who “ridicule or insult God or the Prophet, even if they repent”, nullifying a previous law where offenders could avoid the death sentence if they expressed remorse.

A number of leading LGBT organisations have called on 11 countries to end the threat of the death penalty as a punishment for queer people. ILGA Asia, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and 5 other organisations condemned the use of violence against LGBT people in a statement issued to mark International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), which takes place on Tuesday (17 May). In the statement, the LGBT organisations note that 70 countries around the world continue to criminalise same-sex sexual conduct, including 22 Asian countries. Islam, sharia ILGA Asia said 11 countries – Afghanistan, Brunei, Darussalam, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen – retain the death penalty for LGBT people. Eight of those countries are in Asia. According to Human Dignity Trust, the death penalty is implemented in Iran, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen, and remains a “legal possibility” i...

'Those 10 countries where you can’t be yourself should not be allowed to compete at the Olympic Games. My mission is to try and change that' Tom Daley has called for countries that punish being gay with death to be banned from the 2024 Olympics. Britain’s Olympic diving champion said he was making it his mission to “create change” before the Paris Games in three years' time. “There were more out LGBT athletes in Tokyo than any of the previous Olympics combined, which is a great step forward,” Daley told the Attitude Awards in London. “Yet there are still 10 countries that punish being gay with death that were still allowed to compete at the Olympic Games. I think that is quite shocking to a lot of people. “I want to make it my mission, hopefully before the Paris Olympics, to make it so that the countries that criminalise and punish by death LGBT people are not allowed to compete.” According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association the deat...

An investigation by The Associated Press (AP) in 2020 found police reports, known in Pakistan as First Information Reports, alleging sexual harassment, rape and physical abuse by Islamic clerics teaching in madrassas or religious schools throughout the country. It is in these schools - known as Madaris-e-Deeniya in Urdu - that many of the country’s poorest, and most vulnerable, study. There are believed to be as many as 40,000 such establishments in Pakistan - including those that are unregistered - with some, particularly those funded by Saudi Arabia, being associated with Islamic radicalisation. AP documented a number of cases of abuse through interviews with law enforcement officials, abuse victims, and their parents. "There are more than 22,000 registered madrassas in Pakistan, teaching more than 2 million children. But there are many more religious schools that are unregistered. They are typically started by a local cleric in a poor neighbourhood, attracting students with a p...

Saif Malook left Pakistan’s Lahore High Court with his head held high on June 3. He had secured freedom for his clients, Shagufta Kausar and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel, impoverished Pakistani Christians sentenced to death for blasphemy. Their convictions had just been overturned on appeal. But almost immediately, Malook’s smile faded as extremists took to social media with threats to end his life. “They called me an agent of the Jews, and many of the threats the Pakistani government determined to be credible,” he said from his home in Lahore. “They even post pictures of the two judges who heard the case and declared them infidels too. This could have long-term implications. Judges will be scared after seeing this.” While Malook, a Muslim, accepts the consequences of his work as one of the last lawyers willing to represent Christians on blasphemy charges, the impact spreads to his wife, a mathematics college professor, and his 15-year-old daughter in high school, both of whom also end...

The Muslim world and non-Muslim African nations lead the way in criminalising homosexuality, a new report has confirmed. The annual State Sponsored Homophobia report found that the death penalty is the legally prescribed punishment for consensual same-sex sexual acts in Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria (12 Northern states only), Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Under the Iran Islamic Penal Code, the death penalty can be imposed for acts of liwat (sodomy), tafkhiz (rubbing penis between thighs or buttocks), and musaheqeh (lesbian sex). Article 237 of the Penal Code also criminalises “homosexual acts of a male person,” which includes “kissing or touching as a result of lust.” This is punishable by 31 to 74 lashes. There is no codified Penal Law in Saudi Arabia with Sharia law being the law of the land. All sexual relations outside of marriage are illegal and the penalty for a married man who engages in consensual same-sex intercourse is generally understood to be death by stoning. Under Article...

The Post first reported in 2019 that Iran's regime publicly hanged a man for violating the country's Islamic Sharia anti-gay law. The finance website Insider Monkey listed the Islamic Republic of Iran as the most dangerous country for gay travelers following the regime’s execution of a man last year based on an anti-gay law. The September 13 article said that Iran topped “the list of the 15 most dangerous countries for gay travelers, with the death penalty imposed for such acts. Again, it’s hard to confirm how many executions have actually been carried out but there are reports of such executions taking place.” According to a 2008 British WikiLeaks cable examined by The Jerusalem Post, Iran’s clerical regime has executed between 4,000-6,000 gays and lesbians since the country’s Islamic revolution in 1979. The Post first reported in 2019 that Iran's regime publicly hanged a man for violating the country's Islamic Sharia anti-gay law.  The US state department spokeswoman ...

As the world battles the deadly COVID-19 virus, countries across sub-Saharan Africa have taken a number of measures aimed at stopping the spread of the virus in their territories. However, while efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic are a stark reminder that the right to life is important and must be protected, a new report by Amnesty International on the global use of the death penalty in 2019 shows that some governments in sub-Saharan Africa do not consistently seek to protect the right to life. In fact, in some instances they actively strive to violate it by sentencing people to death or executing them. Botswana, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan In 2019, four countries in the region – Botswana, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan – carried out executions in their territories despite a 5% reduction in known executions in the world. Amnesty International confirmed one execution in Botswana, one in Sudan, 11 in South Sudan and 12 in Somalia. These four countries are increasi...

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) — Authorities in Mauritania have arrested 10 men after a video appeared on social media of a gay couple appearing to take part in a traditional wedding ceremony, human rights groups said. Police later determined the gathering was a birthday party but the men remain in custody with no trial date set yet. Mauritania practices strict Islamic law known as Shariah and homosexuality is criminalized. If convicted, the men could face the death penalty though executions have not been carried out in more than a decade, according to Amnesty International. “It is a serious attack on the individual and collective freedom of these young people who have the right to display their difference and intimate preferences,” said Brahim Bilal, the president of a human rights organization in Mauritania. Video of the festive ceremony prompted an outcry to what was suspected of being the first gay marriage in Mauritania. The Nouakchott public prosecutor’s offic...