Execution

SC terms pendency of 882K execution pleas 'highly disappointing, alarming'

The Supreme Court has termed as "highly disappointing" and "alarming" the pendency of over 8.82 lakh execution petitions before different courts across the country. Execution petitions are the pleas filed by a decree holder seeking enforcement of court orders passed in a civil dispute. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Pankaj Mithal made the remarks while reviewing the compliance of its March 6 order that had directed all high courts to instruct civil courts within their jurisdiction to decide execution petitions within six months. The court had also made it clear that presiding officers would be held liable for any delay in presiding with its directive. "The statistics which we have received are highly disappointing. The figures of the pendency of the execution petitions across the country are alarming. As on date, 8,82,578 execution petitions are pending across the country," the bench said. The bench said in the last six months from March 6, a total of 3,38,685 execution ...

Iran executes 6 death-row inmates for alleged attacks on behalf of Israel

Iran said Saturday it executed six death-row inmates it alleges carried out attacks in the country's oil-rich southwest on behalf of Israel. The men were put to death as part of a wider wave of executions, believed to be the highest in decades after the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June. Iran said the men killed police officers and security forces, as well as orchestrated bombings targeting sites around Khorramshahr in Iran's restive Khuzestan province.

Iran executes man for spying for Israel, another for IS group sabotage

Iran executed two men in separate cases Wednesday, accusing one of spying for Israel and another of being a member of the Islamic State group, state media reported. A report by the judiciary news website Mizanonline identified the alleged spy as Rouzbeh Vadi, who was accused of relaying classified information to Israel's intelligence service, the Mossad. Authorities said Vadi provided information about an Iranian nuclear scientist who was killed during Israel's June airstrikes on Iran, according to the report, which did not identify the scientist or the time and place of Vadi's arrest. Vadi met the Mossad officers five times in Vienna, Austria, the report said. Israel's ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, said in June that Israel's 12-day war on Iran included targeted strikes that killed at least 14 physicists and engineers involved with Iran's nuclear program. Iran has hanged seven people for espionage during the conflict with Israel, sparking fears from activists that the govern

Nimisha Priya row: Mahdi family presses for execution, rejects 'settlement'

The execution of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya was delayed after intervention from an Indian Muslim leader, but the Mahdi family continues to demand death penalty

Who is Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad, cleric who helped defer Nimisha's execution?

The Kerala-based religious leader reportedly made last-minute interventions to stop the execution of the 37-year-old nurse Nimisha Priya, who hails from the same state

Nimisha Priya case: Yemen postpones 16 July execution after govt efforts

Indian government has been in regular touch with the local jail authorities and the prosecutor's office in Yemen, which lead to this postponement

Nimisha Priya row: Hopes up as talks progress after Kanthapuram intervenes

Last-minute efforts to halt the scheduled execution of an Indian nurse in Yemen on July 16 are underway, under the leadership of a Sufi scholar there, at the behest of influential Sunni Muslim leader Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar, informed sources said here on Tuesday. A meeting between representatives of prominent scholar and Sufi leader Sheikh Habib Umar bin Hafiz, and the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi -- the Yemeni national allegedly killed by nurse Nimisha Priya in 2017 -- is expected to be held at Dhamar on Tuesday, they said. The development follows after the 94-year-old Musliyar, who is officially known as Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad and holds the title of Grand Mufti of India, held talks with religious authorities in Yemen. The meeting with the family will take place on Tuesday at 10 am, Yemeni local time. Kanthapuram's office said a close relative of the deceased Talal -- who is also the Chief Justice of the Hodeidah State Court and a member of the Yemeni Shura Council --has .

Saudi Arabia executes three Indians among record 101 foreigners in 2024

This year's executions include 21 from Pakistan, 20 from Yemen, and 14 from Syria, while three each from Sudan, India and Afghanistan, and one each from Sri Lanka, Eritrea and the Philippines

29 executions in two days in Iran, UN rights office expresses concerns

The UN human rights office is expressing concerns about reports that Iran has executed 29 people over two days this week, with the rights chief decrying an alarmingly high number" of executions in such a short period of time. The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday it has verified 38 people were executed in July, bringing the total number of executions to at least 345 this year mostly for drug offenses or murder including 15 women. Imposing the death penalty for offenses not involving intentional killing is incompatible with international human rights norms and standards, rights office spokeswoman Liz Throssell told a U.N. briefing Friday. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Trk is extremely concerned about reports that, in the space of two days this week, Iranian authorities reportedly executed at least 29 people across the country, she said. This represents an alarmingly high number of executions in such a short period of time. Throssell

Executions worldwide jumped last year to highest number since 2015: Amnesty

The number of executions recorded worldwide last year jumped to the highest level since 2015, with a sharp rise in Iran and across the Middle East, Amnesty International said in a report released on Wednesday. The human rights group said it recorded a total of 1,153 executions in 2023, a 30 per cent increase from 2022. Amnesty said the figure does not include thousands of death sentences believed to have been carried out in China, where data is not available due to state secrecy. The group said the spike in recorded executions was primarily driven by Iran, where authorities executed at least 853 people last year, compared to 576 in 2022. Those executed included 24 women and five people who were children at the time the crimes were committed, Amnesty said, adding that the practice disproportionately affected Iran's Baluch minority. "The Iranian authorities showed complete disregard for human life and ramped up executions for drug-related offences, further highlighting the ...

Iran executes 4 convicted of planning sabotage, alleged links with Mossad

Iran executed on Monday four men convicted of planning sabotage and alleged links with Israel's Mossad secret service, state media reported. The official IRNA news agency said the men were convicted of planning to target a factory in 2022 belonging to Iran's defense ministry and involved in missile and defense equipment in the central city of Isfahan. The operation was allegedly engineered by Mossad and the four were trained by the Israeli agency in an African country before entering Iran, it said. The four were identified as Iranian nationals: Mohammad Faramarzi, Mohsen Mazloum, Vafa Azarbar and Pejman Fatehi. The execution was carried out after the country's Supreme Court upheld their death sentences, handed down by another court in September. The report did not say how the death sentences were carried out, but in Iran it's usually by hanging. In 2022, Iran said its intelligence agents had dismantled a group linked to Mossad that had allegedly planned terror operations inside Ira

Executions in Iran up 30%, 419 killed in first 7 months of 2023: UN report

Iran is carrying out executions "at an alarming rate," putting to death at least 419 people in the first seven months of the year, the United Nations chief said in a new report. That's a 30 per cent increase from the same period in 2022. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the report to the U.N. General Assembly on the human rights situation in Iran that seven men were executed in relation to or for participating in nationwide protests, sparked by the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was picked up by the morality police for her allegedly loose headscarf in violation of Iran's Islamic dress code. In all seven cases, information received by the U.N. human rights office consistently indicated that the judicial proceedings did not fulfil the requirements for due process and a fair trial under international human rights law, Guterres said. Access to adequate and timely legal representation was frequently denied, with reports of coerced confessions, which may hav

Alabama wants to execute prisoner by making him breathe only nitrogen

Alabama is seeking to become the first state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe pure nitrogen. The Alabama attorney general's office on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for death row inmate Kenneth Smith. Alabama plans to put him to death by nitrogen hypoxia, an execution method that is authorized in three states but has never been used. Nitrogen hypoxia is caused by forcing the inmate to breathe only nitrogen, depriving them of oxygen and causing them to pass out and die, according to the theory. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air inhaled by humans and is harmless when inhaled with oxygen. Critics have likened the untested method to human experimentation. Alabama authorized nitrogen hypoxia in 2018 but the state has not attempted to use it until now to carry out a death sentence. Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized nitrogen hypoxia. Alabama has been working for several years to develop the execution method, but has disclosed little ab

AG recommends setting panel to review if execution by hanging proportionate

Attorney General R Venkataramani has written to the Centre on setting up a committee of experts to examine the prevalent mode of execution of death row convicts by hanging in the country, the Supreme Court was apprised on Tuesday. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was told by senior advocate Sonia Mathur, appearing for the Centre, that a letter has been written by the attorney general for India to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on setting up of the panel and seeking its suggestions to be submitted in the court on the issue. Mathur also said that the topmost law officer was unavailable and travelling and hence the hearing may be deferred. List it on a Friday after two weeks, the CJI said. Earlier, the top court was apprised by the Centre that it was considering setting up a committee of experts to examine the prevalent mode of execution of death row convicts by hanging. The attorney general had said there were processes

As Singapore hangs man, these are the nations with the harshest drug laws

Singapore has executed a man accused of coordinating a cannabis delivery despite clemency petitions and protests. Here is a list of nations with the harshest drug laws

Iran carries out execution of 2 more men detained amid nationwide protests

Iran said it executed two men Saturday convicted of allegedly killing a paramilitary volunteer during a demonstration, the latest executions aimed at halting the nationwide protests now challenging the country's theocracy. Iran's judiciary identified those executed as Mohammad Karami and Mohammad Hosseini, making it four men known to have been executed since the demonstrations began in September over the death of Mahsa Amini. The judiciary's Mizan news agency said the men had been convicted of killing Ruhollah Ajamian, a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's volunteer Basij Force, in the city of Karaj outside of Tehran on Nov. 3. The Basij have deployed in major cities, attacking and detaining protesters, who in many cases have fought back. It wasn't immediately clear which court heard the two men's cases. However, Iran's internationally criticized closed-door Revolutionary Courts have handed down two of the death sentences. Activists say at least 16 people have been sentence

Iran carries out first execution over anti-hijab protests, says report

The execution comes as other detainees also face possible death penalty for their involvement in the protests

Myanmar government to carry out its first executions in decades: Report

Government spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun was cited as saying the decision to carry out the hangings was confirmed after legal appeals by the four were rejected.

Dramatic drop in Saudi Arabia executions after laws changed in 2020

Saudi Arabia was for years one of the world's most prolific executioners

US government executes first woman on death row in nearly 70 years

The US Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, cleared the way for her execution after overturning a stay by the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals