Death Penalty News

A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced to death a former executive of one of the country's largest state-controlled asset management firms for accepting "extremely large" bribes, state media reported. Bai Tianhui, the former general manager at a subsidiary of bad-debt manager Huarong Asset Management, was found guilty of receiving the equivalent of more than 1.1 billion yuan ($151.9 million) while using his management positions to offer favourable treatment in "matters including project acquisition and corporate financing", state broadcaster CCTV said.

In an interview with Vatican News, death row prison chaplain and author, the Rev. Joseph B. Ingle, reflects on his pastoral work and advocacy and talks about the time he was part of an effort to gain pardon for Robert Sullivan, a death row inmate in the 1980s, that involved Pope John Paul II who personally pleaded for clemency to save Sullivan's life.

Missouri executed four people in 2023. Amber McLaughlin, Michael Tisius, Johnny Johnson and Leonard Taylor, who maintained that he was innocent, all died by lethal injection. The state is one of five in the country that carried out executions last year.

The Islamic Republic's authorities have executed a young man for an alleged murder he committed at the age of 16.  On May 18, 2024, 20-year-old Ramin Sa'adat was executed at Miandoab Prison for a murder committed when he was 16 years and five months old, according to Kurdpa news agency. 

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 24, 2024: Arvin Ghahremani, a young Jewish man on death row for murder, is at imminent risk of execution in Kermanshah Central Prison after his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court. His relatives say key errors in the case were intentionally ignored and Arvin’s actions to save the victim were not mentioned in the indictment.

Letters from Death Row Iwao Hakamada The odds were always stacked against Iwao Hakamada. Prosecutors in Japan have a 99-percent conviction rate for individuals charged with crimes. And for inmates who insist they are innocent, getting a court to grant a retrial has been extremely rare.

A conservative plan for Donald Trump’s potential second term calls for the swift execution of everyone on federal death row, continuing the historic federal execution spree that took place during the Trump administration. Buried in a 2023 plan from the Heritage Foundation, dubbed Project 2025, former Trump Department of Justice official Gene Hamilton urges a second-term Trump to “do everything possible” to execute the remaining 40 people on federal death row, arguing the White House should push for these killings “until Congress says otherwise through legislation.”

SINGAPORE: Yong Vui Kong is alive and well, though still incarcerated, as he sees the 15th year since a last-minute appeal saved his life from the gallows. Vui Kong’s story was well publicized after he was arrested for possession of 47.27 grams of heroin. This occurred in 2007 when the Malaysian was only 19 years old.

Some Indonesians have voiced support for the drug traffickers to be executed. As of October last year, Indonesia had 509 death row inmates A raid on a suspected drug lab in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, allegedly operated by Russian and Ukrainian nationals, has reignited discussion about banning “problematic” tourists and executing criminals for serious drug crimes.

Travis Mullis was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death in 2011, three years after sexually assaulting, choking and stomping to death 3-month-old Alijah Mullis in Galveston. An execution date was set for a Brazoria County man convicted of brutally stomping his infant son to death in 2011.

Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani’s family and international human rights groups fight to commute his death sentence, highlighting Iran’s severe judicial practices and discrimination The Iranian government has postponed the execution of Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani, a 20-year-old Jewish man from the Iranian city of Kermanshah, initially scheduled for Monday, May 20, 2024. Convicted of murdering a Muslim man, Ghahremani’s case has drawn significant attention from international human rights organizations and his family, who have been tirelessly advocating for clemency. The mounting global pressure is urging relatives of the deceased to accept a payoff [ blood money ] to commute the death sentence.

Parvez Tak, stepfather of Bollywood actor Laila Khan, has been awarded the death penalty for the murder of the actor, her mother and four siblings in 2011. The Mumbai sessions court on Friday sentenced Parvez Tak to death for the murder of his stepdaughter and Bollywood actor Laila Khan, her mother and four siblings in 2011.  Parvez Tak was held guilty by the court on May 9 for murder and destruction of evidence.

Home Minister Targets Anti-Death Penalty Activists The Singaporean government since mid-April has issued at least four execution notices to individuals convicted of drug-related offenses. They are among 36 death row prisoners taking part in a legal action relating to their constitutional right to legal aid following appeal. None of these prisoners currently have legal representation.

International laws and treaties impose obligations on countries that still implement the death penalty to ensure that individuals facing this punishment are granted their full rights, including the right to seek pardon. Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Amnesty, pardon, or commutation of the sentence of death may be granted in all cases." The Arab Charter on Human Rights, in its Article 6, confirms that every person sentenced to death has the right to seek pardon or to have the sentence commuted to a lesser penalty.

Opponents of the bill, including Gov. Jeff Landry, bucked Jewish faith leaders who said nitrogen gas evokes the Holocaust. A few months after Louisiana lawmakers legalized executing death row prisoners by nitrogen gas suffocation, an effort backed by Jewish faith leaders to remove that method from state law has died for the current legislative session.

TOKYO: Japanese prosecutors on Wednesday (May 22) sought the death penalty in the retrial of a man reputed to have been the world's longest-serving death row prisoner until his release in 2014, local media reported. Former boxer Iwao Hakamada, now 88, spent nearly five decades on death row after being convicted in 1968 of robbing and murdering his boss, the man's wife and their two teenage children.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 20, 2023: Ebrahim Raisi, the president of the Islamic Republic and a member of the "Death Committee," died yesterday in a helicopter crash. Honoring the memory of thousands of men and women who have fallen victim to the crimes of Ebrahim Raisi and the Islamic Republic over the past four decades, Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) emphasizes that Raisi's death does not mean the closure of the case on his crimes. IHRNGO hopes that one day, his record, along with those of other officials of the Islamic Republic and perpetrators of crimes against humanity, will be addressed in a competent court.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 20, 2024: Mojtaba Pouyande, Mostafa Aghayi, Nader Ghorbani and an unidentified Afghan national were executed for murder and drug charges in Shiraz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were executed in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 19 May. 

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The man responsible for the racially-motivated mass shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo is due back in federal court on Tuesday morning. Federal prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against Payton Gendron, the White supremacist who killed 10 Black people in the mass shooting on May 14, 2022.

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi and his Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian are missing after the helicopter carrying them crashed in the middle of the Dizmar forest. DUBAI, May 19 (Reuters) - A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed on Sunday as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog on the way back from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan, an Iranian official told Reuters. The official said the lives of Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were "at risk following the helicopter crash".

Parvin Moussavi, 53, was among five prisoners hanged in Urmia Fatemeh Abdullahi, 27, was hanged in  Neyshabur Two women were executed this morning [ May 18, 2024] in Iran. They have been identified as Parvin Moussavi and Fatemeh Abdullahi.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The state of Oklahoma has set an execution date for a man convicted of murdering a 7-year-old girl in the 1980s. The Court of Criminal Appeals decided that Richard Rojem will be put to death after decades behind bars for the murder of Layla Dawn Cummings.  Rojem has always claimed that he's innocent.

U.S.-based Persian Jews are fundraising to secure last-minute reprieve for young Jewish man scheduled for execution by hanging. The Iranian regime is gearing up to execute a young Jewish man convicted of murder on Monday, barring a last minute reprieve from the victim’s family.

On Saturday, human rights groups reported the execution of ten individuals in Iran, highlighting the country’s troubling rate of capital punishment.  Two women were executed for separate crimes, while eight men faced execution on drug-related charges. This incident underscores Iran’s position as a global leader in executions, particularly for drug offenses.