Death Penalty News

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Catholics and pro-life conservatives joined a broad coalition of more than 50 organizations seeking to end the death penalty in the United States amid the 2025 surge in executions. Leaders of the coalition, the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty (USCEPD), said they hope the coordinated team can abolish the death penalty in states where it is still practiced. Capital punishment is still on the books in 27 states, but just 16 have executed prisoners over the past decade. The group’s goals include working with Democrats and Republicans to pass state-level laws that end the use of capital punishment, reducing the imposition of the death penalty in jurisdictions where it remains legal, and increasing awareness about the risk of executing innocent people, the lack of fairness in the system, and the harms inflicted on everyone affected by the death penalty.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 3, 2025: Mahmoud Nouri, Hossein Shafizadeh and Gholamreza Bahrami, three men on death row for murder charges, were executed in Semnan Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were hanged in Semnan Central Prison on 2 December 2025. Their identities have been established as  Mahmoud Nouri, a 40-year-old man from Semnan, 40-year-old Hossein Shafizadeh and Gholamreza Bahrami.

Months after a judge tossed out his 1998 murder conviction, Jimmie Duncan is free on bail. But prosecutors have asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to reinstate the death penalty for Duncan, even as the victim’s mother has come to support his release. Jimmie “Chris” Duncan walked out of the Ouachita Parish Correctional Center and into the arms of his parents last week after spending the last 27 years on death row.

On November 26, 2025, Jimmie Duncan was released on bail from Louisiana’s Angola prison after spend­ing 27 years on death row for a crime that a court now says nev­er occurred. Ouachita Parish District Attorney Robert Tew opposed Mr. Duncan’s release on bail and main­tains that he is guilty of rape and mur­der. Mr. Duncan’s attor­neys dis­pute this and say Judge Alvin Sharp’s bail rul­ing ​“acknowl­edged the clear and con­vinc­ing evi­dence show­ing Mr. Duncan is factually innocent.”

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

International pressure on Singapore to reconsider its death penalty for drug offences has increased SINGAPORE — Singapore has executed 17 individuals this year on drug and murder charges, marking the highest annual tally since 2003 amid renewed debate over the city-state’s use of the death penalty. Over two days last week, three convicted drug traffickers were executed: Singaporean Mohammad Rizwan bin Akbar Husain, 44; another Singaporean whose name wasn’t released; and Saminathan Selvaraju, 42, a Malaysian. The hangings come ahead of a hearing on Wednesday in which activists will seek to challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty.

Indonesia and the Netherlands have agreed to repatriate two Dutch nationals convicted on drug offenses in Indonesia Indonesia and the Netherlands on Tuesday agreed to repatriate two Dutch nationals convicted on drug offences in Indonesia, including one facing the death penalty and another serving a life sentence. The agreement was signed by officials in both Jakarta and Amsterdam following a request by the Dutch king and foreign ministry for the release of the men, both of whom are in poor health, according to Indonesia’s senior law minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 28, 2025: Alireza Forouhandeh, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Ardabil Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Ardabil Central Prison on 23 November 2025. His identity has been established as 23-year-old Alireza Fourhandeh from Pars Abad. He was arrested around four years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

The Winter Garden Police chief was at a party on Christmas Eve 1975 when he received a phone call from his friend Tommy Zeigler, the owner of a furniture store on Dillard Street. “I’ve been shot, please hurry,” Zeigler told the chief as he struggled for breath. When police arrived at the store, Zeigler, 30, managed to unlock the door and then collapsed “with a gaping bullet hole through his lower abdomen,” court records show. In the store, detectives found a gruesome, bloody crime scene and several guns. Four other people — Zeigler’s wife, his in-laws and a laborer — lay dead.

Singapore hanged three people for drug offences last week, bringing the total number of executions to 17 this year - the highest since 2003. These come a week before a constitutional challenge against the death penalty for drug offences is due to be heard. Singapore has some of the world's harshest anti-drug laws, which it says are a necessary deterrent to drug crime, a major issue elsewhere in South East Asia. Anyone convicted of trafficking - which includes selling, giving, transporting or administering - more than 15g of diamorphine, 30g of cocaine, 250g of methamphetamine and 500g of cannabis in Singapore will be handed the death sentence.

Singapore will not alter its capital punishment laws, maintaining that the death penalty is a crucial deterrent against drug offences, its Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said.  Speaking at a media roundtable during the 17th Malaysian Journalists' visit programme organised by Singapore's Digital Development and Information Ministry, Balakrishnan said the punishment remains in place with strong public support despite international pressure and human rights concerns.  "There is no change to the law," he said, stressing that drug trafficking presents a clear and present threat. 

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness  Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died.  Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.  Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.”  “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.” 

A Louisiana man who spent nearly 30 years on death row walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction and granted him bail. Jimmie Duncan, now in his 60s, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the alleged rape and drowning of his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux — a case long clouded by disputed forensic testimony. His release comes months after a state judge ruled that the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction was unreliable and rooted in discredited bite-mark analysis.

A woman in Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing family members including two young children in a series of cyanide poisonings that shocked her community. The Dong Nai People's Court found 39-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong Bich guilty of murder and of illegally possessing and using toxic chemicals. Judges described her actions as "cold-blooded, inhumane and calculated," saying Bich exploited the trust of her victims and "destroyed every ethical bond within her family."

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 26, 2025: Ali Eftekhari, a man on death row for drug-related offences, was executed in Neishabur Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Neishabur Prison on 25 November 2025. His identity has been established as Ali Eftekhari, a Neishabur native.   He was arrested around three years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court. At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 26: Divorce rates in Kuwait are rising, with recent statistics indicating that addiction—particularly among wives—has become a significant contributing factor. In response, authorities are preparing to introduce surprise premarital drug testing as part of a broader set of reforms under Kuwait’s new drug law. The countdown has officially begun for the enforcement of this new legislation, which was drafted by a judicial committee formed by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef. The committee is headed by Counselor Mohammed Rashid Al-Duaij.

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.