Death Penalty News

The Iranian regime is currently in the process of re-opening business activities despite still being amid the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East. Questions about the official infection rates and death tolls leave open the possibility that Iran’s outbreak is among the worst in the world. And this in turn underscores the extent to which the Iranian regime places self-serving economic priorities and its own power ahead of human life.  Officially, just over 6,000 Iranians have died of Covid-19 since the presence of the illness was confirmed on February 19. The same official estimates indicate that Iran has just surpassed 100,000 total cases. However, the Health Ministry is reportedly not using antibody tests and is even attempting to ship its own to Europe. This betrays the regime’s interest in avoiding confirmation of prior coronavirus infections, to downplay the extent of the outbreak.  Nevertheless, one member of the regime’s coronavirus task force stated...

China's top legislature on Saturday adopted amendments to the Criminal Law, removing the death penalty for nine crimes, and ruling out commutation for most corrupt figures. The 9 crimes punishable by death include smuggling weapons, ammunition, nuclear materials or counterfeit currency; counterfeiting currency; raising funds by means of fraud; arranging for or forcing another person to engage in prostitution; obstructing a police officer or a person on duty from performing his duties; and fabricating rumors to mislead others during wartime. After removing the death penalty for these crimes, those convicted will face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The amendments were voted in by lawmakers at the end of a six-day bimonthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee. The move to limit the use of the death penalty comes in the wake of judicial reform pushed forward by the Communist Party of China in recent years to gradually redu...