Death Penalty News

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Rights activists in Singapore and Malaysia will hold candlelight vigils Wednesday to protest capital punishment as Singaporean authorities prepare to execute a Malaysian man for drug trafficking despite mounting pressure to halt the sentencing. Pannir Selvam Pranthaman was arrested in 2014 for having 52 grams (about 1.8 ounces) of heroin and sentenced to death in 2017. He is due to be hanged on Thursday, making him the fourth person to be put to death in the Southeast Asian country this year alone; two others were executed for drug-related crimes and one for murder.

The activist allegedly took part in unlawful public assemblies to mark the executions of four drug traffickers. SINGAPORE: Activist Jolovan Wham was on Monday (Feb 3) charged with attending five illegal candlelight vigils for death row inmates in 2022 and 2023. The 45-year-old Singaporean was given five charges under the Public Order Act for taking part in a public assembly held without a permit. According to charge sheets, the vigils were held to "mark" the executions of four inmates, all of whom were convicted drug traffickers.

Vigil, protest held for prisoner's execution after 6-month moratorim OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KTUL) — Jemaine Cannon is set to be put to death at 10 a.m. Thursday morning for the murder of Sharonda White Clark in 1995. After a six-month hiatus, executions are set to resume with Cannon's execution after he was denied clemency. The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty delivered petitions to Governor Kevin Stitt's office yesterday hoping to halt Thursday's execution, but the execution is still on schedule. Those opposed to the death penalty will attend a vigil outside the governor's house.

An application has been filed in the Singapore court by an anti-death penalty activist to seek, among other things, a declaration that the police had abused its powers in investigating him for participating in a purported ‘illegal procession’. Rocky Howe, a member of the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) filed the application on 23 September over the police investigations that he and fellow TJC member, and independent journalist Kirsten Han were subjected to on 24 June this year. The police sought their presence at the Bedok Police Station for allegedly participating in 2 ‘illegal assemblies’ outside Changi Prison earlier this year: once when they sat there with a few others the night before the execution of Abdul Kahar bin Othman, and another time when they took photos with the sign “END OPPRESSION, NOT LIFE”’ two nights before Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam was hanged. Both Howe and Han went to the police station wearing T-shirts bearing anti-death penalty slogans. During the inter...

James Coddington told his spiritual advisor minutes before his execution that he was disappointed turning his life around made no difference. Coddington, in his final statement before being executed Thursday , forgave Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt for rejecting the state parole board’s recommendation to grant him clemency for killing Albert Hale in 1997. Rev. Don Heath, Coddington’s spiritual advisor, called the parole process futile and said Coddington changed his life in the 25 years since his imprisonment. “This was a gentle caring man,” Heath told the News-Capital. “It was senseless to kill him.” RELATED | Oklahoma governor denies clemency for death row inmate ahead of Thursday execution Coddington was convicted of first-degree murder in 2003 and received a death sentence in the 1997 murder of Hale, a 73-year-old who had befriended and worked with Coddington. Prosecutors said Coddington was on cocaine when he asked Hale to loan him money for more drugs, but Hale refused and Coddington...

SINGAPORE -Singapore executed a Malaysian man convicted of drug trafficking on Wednesday despite appeals for clemency on the grounds that he had an intellectual disability, his family said, in a case that has drawn international attention. Nagaenthran Dharmalingam , 34, had been on death row for more than a decade for trafficking 44 grams (1.5 oz) of heroin into Singapore, which has some of the world’s toughest narcotics laws. His lawyers had filed multiple appeals against his execution saying he was intellectually disabled. His brother Navin Kumar, 22, said by telephone the execution had been carried out and said the body would be sent back to Malaysia where a funeral would be held in the town of Ipoh. A Singapore court on Tuesday turned down a legal challenge put forward by Nagaenthran’s mother, clearing the way for the execution by hanging. At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, Dharmalingam and his family reached through a gap in a glass screen to grasp each others’ hands tightly as they...

The Singapore Court of Appeal has dismissed a last-minute legal challenge filed by the mother of a mentally disabled Malaysian man in an attempt to halt his execution for drug trafficking The Singapore Court of Appeal on Tuesday dismissed a last-minute legal challenge filed by the mother of a mentally disabled Malaysian man in an attempt to halt his execution for drug trafficking. The dismissal of the motion clears the way for the execution of Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam , 34, to proceed Wednesday. The motion, filed Monday by his mother , Panchalai Supermaniam, argued that Nagaenthran may not have received a fair trial because Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who presided over his previous failed appeals, was attorney general at the time he was convicted in 2010, creating a potential conflict of interest. Nagaenthran’s lawyers and supporters say he has an IQ of 69, and that the execution of a mentally disabled person is prohibited under international human rights law. The court ruled Tue...

It has been 131 years since a federal execution was carried out under a lame duck president, in 1889 under Grover Cleveland. Tuesday, Death Penalty Action (DPA) delivered a petition to the White House signed by thousands of citizens asking President Trump to stop the 3 remaining federal executions currently scheduled.  The petition was delivered ahead of the execution of Orlando Hall, who is scheduled to be killed on Thursday, November 19.  Other organizations are also submitting petitions in general and in the 3 specific cases, and last week Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Senators Durbin, Leahy and Booker wrote directly to the president. “The thousands of people who have signed this petition represent the millions who understand the death penalty is not necessary,” said Abraham Bonowitz, director of Death Penalty Action. “We can be safe from dangerous individuals and hold them accountable to their crimes without executions. It’s what we do in the vast majority of cases.” No federa...

Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen will be heading back to the Arkansas Supreme Court over its earlier order that he is not allowed to hear capital cases. The Supreme Court ordered him off capital cases in 2017 after he participated in a prayer vigil outside the Governor’s Mansion that included people protesting the death penalty. He lay on a cot in a manner many took to be emulating an inmate awaiting lethal injection. He has said he was leading a prayer vigil for members of the Bapitst Church he pastors. Since then he’s lost a federal lawsuit over the issue. Dueling ethics complaints by the Supreme Court and Griffen produced no discipline against either party. The Supreme Court also denied his effort to be restored to capital cases. New today is an order issued by Griffen in the capital murder case against Napoleon Haire, charged with killing two people in Sherwood during a robbery. The state of Arkansas, through Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley’s office, asked that the case be reassigne...

Indiana State Police has agreed to allow death penalty protesters to gather near the entrance of the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute during executions. Federal executions resumed in July, drawing death penalty protesters and advocates to the Terre Haute facility. It is the only place where federal executions are carried out.  The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit against ISP on behalf of the protesters earlier this month. The lawsuit accused ISP of violating protesters' First Amendment rights when police blocked roadways leading to a Dollar General parking lot at State Road 63 and West Springhill Drive near the prison.  RELATED | Indiana | Anti-death penalty groups sue, say roadblocks impede speech ISP, represented by the Indiana Attorney General's Office, and the ACLU signed and filed a joint stipulation Friday, resolving the case.  ISP agrees to not erect barriers preventing protesters from gathering at the desired loca...

After a failed attempt in 2019, the Trump Administration has once again announced they will resume federal executions after a 16 year hiatus, having scheduled 4 execution dates this summer: July 13, July 15, July 17 and August 28. Here is what you can do! 1. Sign the Petitions - Over the last 56 years, there have only been three federal executions carried out, and the last one was in 2003. To resume federal executions once again is an affront to the progress this country has made in eliminating the death penalty state-by-state and bringing us in-line with international human rights standards. In light of this, we are currently directing our opposition to the federal death penalty to the U.S. Congress ( sign the congress petition here ) and to President Trump ( sign the Trump petition here ). Also, if you are a faith leader or member of the clergy,  please sign the EJUSA Joint Letter  to Trump and Barr. 2. Come to Terre Haute, Indiana - Along with the local grou...