Death penalty

'Enmity against god': Iran issues death sentence linked to January unrest, source says

A Tehran revolutionary court has reportedly sentenced Mohammad Abbasi to death on charges of “enmity against god,” a ruling not yet confirmed by Iran’s judiciary or Supreme Court.

An effigy resembling Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is hanged during a rally in support of Iranian protesters during a global day of action in Los Angeles, California, February 14, 2026.
A woman holds a placard during a demonstration in solidarity with protestors living in Iran, in Israel's central city of Holon on January 24, 2026.

UN experts demand answers as Iran continues to cloud the truth on violent protest crackdown

A demonstrator lights a cigarette with fire from a burning picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei outside the Iranian embassy during a rally in support of nationwide protests in Iran, in London, Britain, January 12, 2026.

Iran's death penalty crackdown on protesters targets minors, Amnesty International warns

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir during a 40 signatures debate, at the plenum hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on November 10, 2025.

Israel should enact the Ben-Gvir death penalty law - opinion


Pittsburgh synagogue requests no death penalty for killer of their members

The president of Congregation Dor Hadash made the request of Jewish US Attorney General Merrick Garland in a letter sent last week.

Flowers and other items have been left as memorials outside the Tree of Life synagogue following last Saturday's shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 3, 2018

Jewish orgs. slam Arizona using Zyklon B gas chamber on death row inmates

"We're basically saying what the Nazis did was OK," said Phoenix Holocaust Association vice president Janice Friebaum.

Prison, death row (illustrative)

American support for death penalty still strong despite decline in use

The new Pew survey indicates that 90% of Americans who support the use of the death penalty on convicted murderers think it is morally justified.

Reverend Sylvester Edwards, President of the Terre Haute NAACP, stands near the Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute, to express his opposition to the death penalty and execution of Daniel Lewis Lee. July 13, 2020

Arizona wants to use Zyklon B to execute inmates on death row

Hydrogen cyanide gas, named by the Third Reich as Zyklon B, was used by the Nazis to kill over a million people in the Holocaust. The state of Arizona now wants to use it in executions.

Prison, death row (illustrative)

Executions plunge 85% in 2020 as Saudi Arabia halts drug-related sentences

Questions about death-penalty reforms remain.

Members of Magic Movement, a group of young Bangladeshis, stage a mock execution scene in protest of Saudi Arabia beheading of eight Bangladeshi workers in front of National Museum in Dhaka October 15, 2011. Eight Bangladeshi migrants have been beheaded in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh in public

Saudis vowed to stop executing minors but some death sentences remain

The decree was never carried on state media nor published in the official gazette as would be normal practice.

Members of Magic Movement, a group of young Bangladeshis, stage a mock execution scene in protest of Saudi Arabia beheading of eight Bangladeshi workers in front of National Museum in Dhaka October 15, 2011. Eight Bangladeshi migrants have been beheaded in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh in public

US carries out 13th and final execution under Trump administration

Higgs is the 13th person executed by the US government in an extraordinary spree begun last summer by Trump. Prior to Trump, the federal government had executed only three people since 1963.

Reverend Sylvester Edwards, President of the Terre Haute NAACP, stands near the Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute, to express his opposition to the death penalty and execution of Daniel Lewis Lee. July 13, 2020

US executes first woman on federal death row in nearly seven decades

Montgomery's execution marked the first time the US government has implemented the death sentence for a female prisoner since 1953.

Convicted murderer Lisa Montgomery pictured at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Fort Worth in an undated photograph

Rights groups denounce rise in Gaza death sentences

Victim’s son: We demand execution of criminal who killed our father.

Palestinian members of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement seen during a patrol in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on January 26, 2020.

Which countries punish rape with the death penalty?

Following Bangladesh approving the death penalty for rape, it joins a list of other countries that carry out this punishment for the crime.

Old rope with hangman’s noose (illustrative).