TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan on Friday hanged two men convicted of murder, the justice ministry said, the first executions this year after 15 death row inmates were executed in 2018. With more than 100 inmates on death row, Japan is one of the few developed nations to retain the death penalty, and public support for it remains high despite international criticism, including from rights groups. “I ordered the executions after very careful consideration,” Justice […]
Tag: Execution
US to resume federal executions after 16-year break
by Paul HANDLEY WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US government will resume its use of capital punishment after a 16-year hiatus and has set execution dates for five convicted murderers, Attorney General Bill Barr announced on Thursday. Acting on President Donald Trump’s call for tougher penalties on violent crimes, Barr directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to adopt a new lethal injection protocol to clear the way to carry out death sentences. “The Justice […]
Saudi in mass execution of 37 convicted of ‘terrorism’
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed 37 of its citizens convicted of terrorism, three years after another mass execution that ultimately led to a break in relations with Iran. The latest executions were carried out in Riyadh, the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the predominantly Sunni province of Qassim, and in the Eastern Province, home to the country’s Shiite minority. The men were executed “for adopting terrorist and extremist […]
US Supreme Court stays execution of ‘Texas Seven’ convict
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the execution of one of the last members of the “Texas Seven,” a group of escaped prisoners who killed a police officer during a high-profile crime spree in 2000. The court granted Patrick Murphy, 57, a last-minute reprieve in the name of religious equality, pointing out that under Texas policy, Christian and Muslim clerics can be present in the execution room, while […]
California governor to impose moratorium on executions
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Governor Gavin Newsom will Wednesday impose a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty in California, granting temporary reprieve to the 737 inmates on death row — the largest such group in the United States. Newsom is a Democrat who took office in January and a long-standing opponent of the death penalty, which was last carried out in California in 2006. “The death penalty is inconsistent with our bedrock […]
Three US executions delayed over lethal injection drug
CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — The governor of the US state of Ohio on Thursday delayed three scheduled executions over concerns that a drug currently used in lethal injections could mimic the effects of “waterboarding,” widely considered a form of torture. Governor Mike DeWine delayed executions scheduled as early as May, in line with a court ruling that using the controversial sedative midazolam could cause pain and suffering. The state is seeking alternatives. “Governor DeWine […]
Trump hails China’s use of death penalty for drug dealers
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Friday praised China’s use of capital punishment for drug dealers, suggesting that the United States would deal better with narcotics trafficking if it put offenders to death. In China, drug dealers get “a thing called the death penalty. Our criminal drug dealer gets a thing called ‘how about a fine?’” Trump told reporters at the White House. “So if we want to get smart, […]
China executes kindergarten knife attacker
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has executed a farmer who attacked several children with a knife at a kindergarten in a southern Chinese city two years ago, state media reported Monday. Yan Pengan was executed last Friday for slashing young children at the school in the Guangxi Zhuang region, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Yan went to the kindergarten with a kitchen knife in January 2017 and attacked 12 children, seriously injuring four of […]
Japan hangs two for murder, bringing 2018 executions to 15
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan hanged two men convicted of murder on Thursday, the justice minister said, bringing the number of executions this year to 15 — tied for the highest amount on record. With more than 100 inmates on death row, Japan is one of the few developed nations to retain the death penalty, and public support for it remains high despite international criticism, including from rights groups. The minister named the two men […]
Tennessee executes man on death row for 36 years
Tennessee on Thursday electrocuted a convicted murder who had been on death row for 36 years, in a case that renewed debate on use of the death penalty so long after a crime. David Earl Miller, 61, was put to death at 7:25 pm (0125 GMT) at a high security prison in Nashville, authorities said, over the beating and stabbing death of a young woman with a mental disability. It was the second use of […]
In death penalty case, executioners urge US Supreme Court to hear their side
by Charlotte PLANTIVE Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Supreme Court is set to consider on Tuesday the fate of a death row prisoner who says the government’s plan to execute him by lethal injection could cause him to choke on his own blood due a rare medical condition. Missouri death-row inmate Russell Bucklew, 50, was sentenced to death for rape and murder — but says execution via lethal injection would violate […]
US man put to death in Tennessee electric chair
by Nova SAFO / with Charlotte Plantive in Washington Agence France Presse CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — A Tennessee man convicted of a double murder was put to death Thursday in the electric chair, after insisting on the rarely used method rather than lethal injection. Edmund Zagorski, 63, was the first US convict in five years to be put to death by electrocution. Zagorski was sentenced to death for the 1983 murders of two […]
