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California | San Quentin begins prison reform - but not for those on death row

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California is transferring everyone on death row at San Quentin prison to other places, as it tries to reinvent the state's most notorious facility as a rehabilitation centre. Many in this group will now have new freedoms. But they are also asking why they've been excluded from the reform - and whether they'll be safe in new prisons. Keith Doolin still remembers the day in 2019 when workers came to dismantle one of the United States' most infamous death chambers.

Taiwan constitutional court declines death row inmates' appeal for review

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Court says appeal not filed within time frame required by law TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s constitutional court has declined to review an additional appeal lodged by 37 death row inmates on the grounds that it was submitted too late. The 37 condemned inmates filed the appeal on Feb. 27, which was in addition to an already lodged appeal that the constitutional court will review beginning April 23, per CNA. 

Taiwan | Thousands support death penalty for child abusers

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More than 25,000 people have endorsed a proposal calling for a blanket death penalty for child abusers, after a one-year-old boy died allegedly from abuse while in foster care. The proposal, posted by a person called Lu I-shan (呂易珊) on the government-administered Public Policy Online Participation Network Platform, states that people who abuse children and cause physical harm to them should be subject to heavier criminal punishment, while those whose abuse leads to children’s death should be sentenced to death without exception.

Alabama | Judge formally imposes death penalty on man who gunned down Mobile cop

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MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Marco Antonio Perez on Monday formally became a condemned man for the murder of a police officer, although a jury already had determined his fate. Under state law, the jury’s sentencing decision in February in the capital murder case was binding. That made Monday’s hearing a formality, although no less emotional. Mobile County Circuit Judge Ben Brooks heard from Officer Sean Tuder’s mother, widow and cousin, along with Police Chief Paul Prine. 

Malaysia | Death sentence commuted for ex-cop who killed toddler, babysitter

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PUTRAJAYA: A former policeman, convicted for the murder of a two-year-old boy and his babysitter nearly 20 years ago, saw the Federal Court commute his death sentence to a 40-year jail term today. A three-member bench chaired by Justice Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal also ordered Nahar Abu Bakar, 48, to be caned 24 times for the offences, the maximum number of strokes allowed under the law. Harmindar, who sat with Justices Nordin Hassan and Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, also ordered Nahar to receive 12 strokes of the rotan for the murder of Nurosama Shohimi, the daughter of former Klang Umno division secretary Shohimi Shafie.

Bali | British grandmother on death row for more than 10 years for drug smuggling given ‘one final hope of escape'

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Lindsay Sandiford, 67, was imprisoned in Indonesia in 2013 for trying to smuggle £1.6 million worth of cocaine into the country in her suitcase. Now cellmates of Ms Sandiford have revealed she has fresh hope of escaping the death sentence. A new law being introduced in January means the grandmother’s death sentence could be converted into a life prison term due to her 10 years of good behaviour behind bars. One inmate at Kerobokan jail in Bali, where she is being held, opened up about Ms Sandiford’s life in the Indonesian prison.

Iran | Man executed in Qazvin

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 14, 2024: Behzad Bidrang, a man on death row for drug-related charges, was executed in Qazvin Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Qazvin Central Prison on 14 March.  His identity has been established as 42-year-old Behzad Bidrang, a father of two from Ajab Shir in East Azerbaijan province.

Georgia | Death penalty trial for accused Atlanta spa shooter in limbo

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Three years after four women of Asian descent were shot and killed at spas in Fulton County, it remains unclear when the suspect will face his death penalty trial. Robert Aaron Long pleaded guilty to killing four people at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County on March 16, 2021 and was given a life sentence without parole for each one. However, the now-24-year-old pleaded not guilty in Fulton County, where District Attorney Fani Willis is pursuing the death penalty and hate crime charges.

Congo reinstates death penalty after 20-year hiatus

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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Congo has lifted a more than two-decade-old moratorium on the death penalty as authorities struggle to curb violence and militant attacks in the country, according to a justice ministry statement released on Friday. The statement, dated earlier this week, said the ban from 2003 allowed offenders accused of treason and espionage to get away without proper punishment.

Georgia Court Case Tests the Limits of Execution Secrecy in the United States

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Georgia plans to put Willie James Pye to death on March 20, in the state’s first execution since January 2020. The state wants to hide as much of that event as possible and, in so doing, to push the limits of execution secrecy in this country. Its plan is a bold departure from the history of American executions. In that history, the public and the press traditionally have been welcomed as spectators. Secrecy of the kind that Georgia law now allows rightly invites suspicion. What is it that Georgia doesn’t want the press to witness and the public to know, and why does it want to restrict what the press can see and hear when it puts Pye to death?

California | Scott Peterson granted court hearing in 2004 murder case review

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Scott Peterson was convicted in 2004 in the deaths of 27-year-old Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant, and the couple's unborn child. The two-decade-old murder conviction of Scott Peterson was the focus of a court hearing Tuesday when the Los Angeles Innocence Project revived the case in a Northern California courtroom.

Iran | Man executed in Ilam

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Mansour Mansouri, previously sentenced to death for murder, was executed in Ilam Central Prison on 11 March. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) had reported the execution of another prisoner, Moein Salavarzizadeh, in Ilam Central Prison on the same day. A source who spoke to KHRN said: “Mansour Mansouri, 44 years old, unmarried and from the city of Sarableh in Ilam Province, was arrested about a year and a half ago on charges of ‘premeditated murder'”.

Georgia readies to resume executions after a 4-year pause brought by COVID and a legal agreement

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An execution scheduled for next week would be the first in Georgia in more than four years. The state is trying to move past an agreement made amid the coronavirus pandemic that effectively halted lethal injections. Willie James Pye, 59, is set to be put to death March 20. He was convicted of murder and other crimes in the November 1993 killing of his former girlfriend, Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. Georgia last carried out an execution in January 2020. In April 2021, the state attorney general's office entered into an agreement with attorneys for death row prisoners to suspend executions for a certain group of prisoners and to establish conditions under which they could resume.

Iran | Two Afghan Nationals Executed in Karaj

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Hengaw; Monday, March 11, 2024 - The death sentence of two Afghan inmates, identified as Noor Mohammad Tajik and Abdul Basit (surname undisclosed), previously convicted of "homicide" by the judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was carried out in Qazalhessar Prison, Karaj.

Kentucky Attorney General moves to restart executions

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FRANKFORT — Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is moving to restart executions in Kentucky. Coleman announced Friday that he has filed a motion in Franklin Circuit Court seeking to end what a news release from his office called a “nearly 15-year ruling that has blocked the imposition of the death penalty in Kentucky.”

Iran | Man Executed After 32 Years on Death Row

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 11, 2024: Moein Salahvarzi, a man who spent 32 years on death row for murder, was executed in Ilam Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Ilam Central Prison on 11 March. His identity has been established as 63-year-old Moein Salahvarzi who had spent 32 years on death row for murder.

Missouri bill would expand death penalty to certain sex crimes against children

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Despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling the practice unconstitutional, Sen. Mike Moon’s legislation would allow the death penalty in non-homicide cases A bill that would add child sex trafficking and statutory rape to the crimes eligible for the death penalty was debated Monday in a Missouri Senate committee — despite conflicting with U.S. Supreme Court precedent. The legislation is sponsored by state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican who said Monday that one of the “principal purposes of government” is to “punish evil.”

Japan | Death Sentence Overturned for Kudo-kai Gang Boss

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When the district court handed down the death sentence in 2021, Nomura told the judge, “You’ll regret the decision for the rest of your life.” Fukuoka (Jiji Press)—A Japanese high court Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling sentencing the head of the Kudo-kai crime syndicate to death over four cases of attacks on civilians. Fukuoka High Court handed down a life sentence for 77-year-old Satoru Nomura, who heads the gang, based in the city of Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan. Meanwhile, the court upheld Fukuoka District Court’s ruling of life imprisonment for Fumio Tanoue, 67, the gang’s No. 2 man. The district court had found Nomura to be the mastermind behind all four attacks.

USA | Journalist Recalls Witnessing an Execution and Describes the Importance of Media Witnesses: Op-Ed

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In May 1990, Jonathan Eig, then a reporter for The New Orleans Times-Picayune, witnessed the electric-chair-execution of Dalton Prejean at Angola State Penitentiary for the 1977 murder of a Louisiana state trooper. Mr. Eig watched Mr. Prejean’s execution through an observation window, and reported seeing “his chest heave, his fists clench and his right wrist twist outward. A spark and a puff of smoke shot from the electrode attached to his left leg.” In the years following the execution, Mr. Eig regretted his decision to witness Mr. Prejean’s execution, writing that it made him “feel complicit, ashamed, a cog in a machine that dehumanized the process of death.” But more recent events, including Alabama’s execution of Kenneth Smith with nitrogen hypoxia, led Mr. Eig to change his mind.  He now writes that “witness statements matter.”

Iran | Executions in Khash, Gonbad Kavous

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 7, 2024: Milad Galavi, a man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, was executed in Khash Prison. According to Haal Vsh, a man was executed in Khash Prison on 3 March. His identity has been reported as 29-year-old Milad Galavi from Zabol. Milad was arrested for the murder of his mother and two siblings in June 2022 and sentenced to qisas by the Khash Criminal Court.

Three top nitrogen gas manufacturers in US bar products from use in executions

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Move follows Alabama’s recent killing of death row inmate Kenneth Smith using previously untested method Three of the largest manufacturers of medical-grade nitrogen gas in the US have barred their products from being used in executions, following Alabama’s recent killing of the death row inmate Kenneth Smith using a previously untested method known as nitrogen hypoxia.

On Florida’s death row, inmates often outlive the judges who condemn them

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The state of Florida executed six inmates last year, including one from Palm Beach County. Four of them, including the one from Palm Beach County, lived longer than the judges who condemned them.  Duane Owen was 25 when he was sentenced to death in 1986 by Palm Beach Judge Richard Burk. He was convicted of killing a 14-year-old babysitter and a 38-year-old mother of two in separate attacks months apart in 1984 while children were sleeping in the homes he targeted. He was 62 when he was executed last June. By then, Burk had been dead four years. Burk was 87 when he passed away.

New Group Formed to Discuss Death Penalty in Japan; Aim to Make Proposals to Govt in Autumn

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A new group consisting mainly of lawmakers, former top investigators and family members of crime victims has been formed to discuss the nation’s death penalty system. The group intends to submit proposals to the government as early as this autumn with the aim of sparking a national debate.

Pakistan blasphemy: Student sentenced to death over WhatsApp messages

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A court in Pakistan has sentenced a 22-year-old student to death on charges of blasphemy over Whatsapp messages. The court in Punjab Province said he had shared blasphemous pictures and videos with the intention to outrage the religious feelings of Muslims. A 17-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment as part of the same case. Both have denied wrongdoing.

Myanmar’s junta imposes multiple death sentences on activists

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Meant to terrorize people, the sentences are making the judicial system a joke, rights groups say. Lawyers and human rights experts in Myanmar have condemned the junta’s liberal use of the death penalty, including several recent cases where anti-junta activists received multiple death sentences. Such sentences are meant to terrorize opponents of the junta, which is losing ground to ethnic armies and resistance fighters in a civil war now in its third year, but the absurdity of doing so is turning the judicial system into a farce, rights groups say.