Death Penalty News

DAMASCUS, Syria (DPN)— A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced former President Bashar Assad and his younger brother, Maher Assad, to death in absentia for premeditated murder of multiple people including children; torture; arbitrary detention, and crimes against humanity committed during Syria’s conflict. The Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus also sentenced Atef Najib, Assad’s maternal cousin and former head of Political Security in the southern province of Daraa, to death. Najib appeared in court wearing a prisoner’s uniform and standing inside a cage as the judge read the sentence. The court ordered that Bashar and Maher Assad be pursued internationally.

Indonesian authorities have arrested two Russian nationals for allegedly smuggling narcotics into Bali following a dramatic high-speed car chase at the popular tourist destination. A 52-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man were arrested on Friday for allegedly trying to smuggle 7.8kg of hashish in a suitcase from Thailand, said Indonesia's national narcotics agency on Sunday. "We secured evidence in the form of hashish weighing 7.8kg gross weight, along with passports, mobile phones, and one four-wheeled vehicle,” said narcotics agency chief Komjen Pol Suyudi Ario Seto.

BALI, Indonesia (AFP): Two Ukrainians and a Russian national face the death penalty in Indonesia after police raided a suspected drug lab on the popular resort island of Bali, police said Monday. Authorities said four suspects, including an Indonesian national, were arrested earlier this month at a villa on the island.

After the deadly terrorist attack at Moscow's Crocus City Hall, some Russian politicians are debating trying the suspects to Belarus, which still has death penalty. But it's not that simple. The terror attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall has ignited debate about the reintroduction of the death sentence in Russia. Given that 140 people died and more than 500 were wounded at the concert hall on March 22, 2024, emotions are running high.

Russia could allow a trial of the Crocus City Hall terrorist suspects to take place in neighbouring Belarus so they can face the death penalty. Talks are already underway between the ‘competent authorities’ of the two countries, according to Putin-loyalist MP Maria Butina. Belarus is the only European country where execution remains in active use – and two of the victims in the Crocus City Hall terror attack were Belarusian.

Tropical reefs, safaris, the pyramids: LGBT travel companies deliver dream vacations, even to places where being out and proud could land you in prison. A romantic island getaway in the Maldives. A safari in Kenya. A visit to the pyramids in Egypt. Apart from being popular on bucket lists, these places have one thing in common: Their destinations have strict anti-LGBT legislation. In the Maldives, gay sex may be punished with lashes and up to eight years in prison. In Kenya, it can bring a sentence of up to 14 years. And in Egypt, the authorities are known to throw people in jail for simply waving a rainbow flag. Paradoxically, these trips are also all offered by travel companies founded by and catering to members of the LGBTQ community. In interviews, the founders of four of these companies, which take a combined total of 3000 tourists — most of them American — abroad each year, said they were providing a safe way to meet a growing demand for trips to countries that criminalise LGBT p...

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin pardoned the convicted killer of famed Russian opposition journalist Anna Politkovskaya after his military service in Ukraine, Russian state-controlled media RBC reported on Nov. 14. Former Russian police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was convicted of his role in Politkovskaya's murder in 2014 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He has been imprisoned since then but went to fight in Ukraine as part of the Kremlin's drive to recruit prisoners.

Sept 14 (Reuters) - Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Thursday his country rejects the participation of its citizens as mercenaries in war, contradicting a statement by Cuba's ambassador in Moscow hours earlier saying his government did not oppose the legal participation of its citizens in Russia´s war in Ukraine. The apparently conflicting statements follow Cuban state-run and foreign media reports suggesting that young Cuban men have enlisted in the Kremlin´s military in recent months as mercenaries and victims in alleged human trafficking schemes.

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is as complicit in crimes of aggression against Ukraine as Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is, the European Parliament asserted in a resolution adopted on Sept. 13. The resolution, based on a report by MEP Petras Austrevičius from Lithuania, was adopted during a plenary session in Strasbourg by an overwhelming majority of votes. “The illegitimate Lukashenka regime is actively supporting and has become fully complicit in Russia’s unjustified war of aggression and war crimes against Ukraine,” the document reads. “The special international tribunal on the crime of aggression perpetrated by Russia against Ukraine must have jurisdiction to investigate not only Putin and the Russian political and military leadership, but also the Belarusian leadership.”

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea is increasing its repression of human rights and people are becoming more desperate and reportedly starving in parts of the country as the economic situation worsens, the U.N. rights chief said Thursday. Volker Türk told the first open meeting of the U.N. Security Council since 2017 on North Korean human rights that in the past its people have endured periods of severe economic difficulty and repression, but “currently they appear to be suffering both.” “According to our information, people are becoming increasingly desperate as informal markets and other coping mechanisms are dismantled, while their fear of state surveillance, arrest, interrogation and detention has increased,” he said.

South Africa must do the "right thing" and abide by international law if Russian President Vladimir Putin personally attends the BRICS summit in Johannesburg next month. Source : Karim Khan, International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor, in an interview with CNN Quote : "South Africa has felt a crime against humanity for decades, the crime of apartheid, I don't think they need lessons from me. They are voluntarily a state party to the ICC, they know what the law is, and I think they would do the right thing. And we will assess what actually happens at the BRICS summit and respond accordingly."

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Alexei Navalny turns 47 on Sunday, he'll wake up in a bare concrete cell with hardly any natural light. He won't be able to see or talk to any of his loved ones. Phone calls and visits are banned for those in “punishment isolation” cells, a 2-by-3-meter (6 1/2-by-10-foot) space. Guards usually blast patriotic songs and speeches by President Vladimir Putin at him. “Guess who is the champion of listening to Putin’s speeches? Who listens to them for hours and falls asleep to them?” Navalny said recently in a typically sardonic social media post via his attorneys from Penal Colony No. 6 in the Vladimir region east of Moscow.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for war crimes because of his alleged involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine. Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” the court said in a statement. It also issued a warrant Friday for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation on similar allegations. Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during its one-year invasion of its neighbour and the Kremlin branded the court decision as "null and void" with respect to Russia. The International Criminal Court in the Hague has just issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin. While it is unlikely that Putin will end up in court an...

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has signed a law imposing the death penalty on civil servants and army personnel convicted of high treason. The Belarusian leader on Thursday signed a bill introducing capital punishment for state officials and military personnel convicted of high treason. The amendments to the country's criminal code endorsed by Alexander Lukashenko envisage death sentences for officials and servicemen deemed to have caused "irreparable damage" to Belarus' national security. The new law is part of changes to the criminal code aimed at strengthening Belarus' fight against "crimes of an extremist (terrorist) and anti-state orientation."

KYIV (Reuters) – Belarusian lawmakers gave their initial backing on Wednesday to a proposal to introduce the death penalty for treasonous officials and soldiers, and to make discrediting the army a criminal offence punishable by up to four years in jail. The Russian ally currently has the death penalty for crimes such as murder or for people who commit, plan or intend to commit acts of terrorism.  Executions are carried out with a single shot to the back of the head. The lower house voted in the first reading to introduce the death penalty specifically for officials or soldiers found guilty of treason. The parliament said this was needed “in order to exert a deterrent effect on destructive elements, as well as to demonstrate a determined fight against treason.” The draft legislation still needs to be approved in a second reading in the lower house, backed by the upper house and signed into law by President Alexander Lukashenko. The second legislative change – to introduce jail term...

Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov (pictured with V. Putin) has demanded that the death penalty be reinstated in Russia for "traitors" and soldiers who retreat from battle in Ukraine. Solovyov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the remarks during his radio show Full Contact (Polny Contakt) on Thursday, shortly after Russia announced its withdrawal from the key Ukrainian city of Kherson. He floated bringing back the death penalty for those suspected of wartime sabotage, and for Russian soldiers who retreat in Ukraine. "I believe that we should reject the moratorium on the death penalty and introduce articles allowing the execution of traitors and their accomplices, terrorists and their accomplices, sponsors, and financiers, including shooting deserters who abandoned the combat order and betrayed their comrades," he said. In 1996, Russia imposed a moratorium on the death penalty pending its membership into the Council of Europe. Russia was suspende...

A world cup overshadowed by the realization that it happens in a country that treats people harshly for daring to love who they want, where women are treated like second-class citizens. and which helps jihadists in their quest to destroy freedom With just a few days left before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, billions of football fans are thrilled to see their favorite teams battle it out for the coveted world title. But the event is already engulfed in scandal. Ever since Qatar was honored to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup and began building stadiums, activists and non-governmental organizations have raised concerns about the treatment of migrant construction workers. There were credible allegations of forced labor and thousands died on the job. The indifference and meager response of the Qatari government has led some football players and private sponsors to raise their voices against the regime. But the problem with Qatar hosting the World Cup goes deeper than that, and...

“Unfortunately, we have no death penalty." A TV presenter and key Vladimir Putin ally has said he wants the death penalty to be used against Russia's own soldiers as Moscow continues to struggle in its war against Ukraine. A series of battlefield disasters, including losses in areas Russia has recently illegally annexed, have prompted allies of the Russian president to publicly criticise the war machine's top figures. Presenter Vladimir Solovyov, a key mouthpiece for Putin, has said he finds it unfortunate the death penalty can no longer be used on members of the military who have failed to achieve their aims. The withdrawal of Russian forces from the strategically important town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine on Saturday has prompted criticism from other powerful Putin allies, including Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Solovyov has always been a cheerleader for the war, but in a clip shared by US journalist Julia Davis his assessment appeared more downbeat. He said: “Those who...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Belarus’ opposition leader said Wednesday that she believes Russian military setbacks in Ukraine could shake the hold on power of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. “We have a distracted Russia that is about to lose this war. It won’t be able to prop Lukashenko up with money and military support as in 2020,” said Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, speaking at a security conference in Warsaw. Tsikhanouskaya fled to Lithuania after Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in disputed August 2020 elections that were viewed in the West as fraudulent, and which many thought she won. She said that hundreds of Belarusian volunteers have supported Ukrainians in their recent liberation of Ukrainian territory. RELATED |  Belarusian ‘railway partisans’ face death penalty RELATED |  Three Belarusian 'Railway Guerrillas' May Face Death Penalty “As I speak, a Belarusian battalion is part of Ukraine’s counter-offensive chasing the invaders away. We all understan...