Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)
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Kuwait: first executions in five years
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Published
A Saudi death-row inmate smokes his last cigarette before his execution
in Kuwait on April 1, 2013.
Manama: Kuwaiti authorities on Monday morning executed three men sentenced to death in separate murder cases.
The Pakistani, Saudi and Bidoon (stateless resident) were executed in the Central Prison at 8am in the presence of the public prosecutor and delegates from the justice and interior ministries, Al Watan site reported.
Each of the three men was allowed a final visit by their families before they were kept separately in different rooms prior to the execution, it said.
The Saudi, identified by local daily Al Rai as Faisal Al Utaibi, was sentenced to die after he was found guilty of deliberately killing his friend while the Pakistani, Pervez Ghulam, was executed for strangling a couple to death.
The stateless resident, Dhaher Al Utaibi, was sentenced to death for killing his wife, son and daughter and attempting to kill another daughter. He reportedly claimed he was the Awaited Mahdi, the 12th Imam in Shiite belief, expected to emerge from hiding and appear at the world’s end to establish a reign of peace and righteousness.
News about the executions on Sunday triggered a wave of comments on the internet.
However, allegations that the executions would be carried out live on Kuwait Television were strongly denied by the information ministry.
Mohammad Al Duaij, the head of the executive prosecution, said that the executions were endorsed by the Emir last week after the court of cassation upheld the death sentence against each of the murderers.
“The April 1 date was selected by the public prosecutor,” he said, according to Al Rai.
He attributed the presence of journalists at the hanging to help deter the occurrence of crimes.
“There are around 48 people sentenced to the death penalty in Kuwait who have used up all their recourses. They are now on death row, but we are waiting for the endorsement of the Emir,” he said.
The last execution in Kuwait was carried out in May 2007.
Since the beginning of 2024 until the end of April, the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia announced the execution of 55 individuals. This figure constitutes a 189% increase compared to the executions in the first third of 2023, which witnessed 19 executions. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights views these numbers as a clear indication of the Saudi government's continued approach towards executing and issuing death sentences, and that the promises made in recent years have become elusive.
Luo Chongchuang, a man who raped and molested multiple girls for a long time, was executed after China's top court approved his death penalty. The execution was carried by the Hainan First Intermediate People's Court, where he was convicted of rape and child molestation and given the death sentence.
Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)
Every few years, from childhood until my late teens, my granddad would take me along with him to the small Texas town where he grew up—Normangee, population 522—to visit old relatives and even older graves. The drive took us up I-45, beyond the Houston sprawl, past pine forests, and eventually through Huntsville, epicenter of the state prison system. One of the city’s seven prisons was just off the interstate, and as we passed by I’d stare at the guard towers and barbed wire before turning my attention across the street to the Texas Prison Museum, which had its own mock guard towers in the parking lot. (“Prison” and “museum” were words that never seemed to go together.) Later, I learned that the museum’s central attraction was the wooden electric chair the state used for executions until 1964.
A 20-year-old Jewish man is scheduled to be executed by Iranian authorities on Saturday, according to Iranian media reports. The young man has been sentenced to death following his involvement in a fatal altercation with a local non-Jewish Iranian.
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 13 – Saudi Arabia has acceded to Kenya’s request to postpone the execution of Stephen Munyakho that was set for Wednesday to allow for further negotiations between all parties. According to Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei, Kenya will be engaging stakeholders in Nairobi and Riyadh, including religious leaders, to agree on the next urgent steps.
Thousands of years ago in ancient China, felonies were not simply punished with a stint in jail, but serious crimes often entailed the amputation of a limb, specifically legs. This harsh culture of punishment, known as yue , disciplined people for various crimes, such as desertion from duties, stealing, or defrauding the monarchy. It was also used in lieu of the death penalty.
David Hosier, who is weeks away from execution, is in a hospital after suffering what a Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman described as a “medical emergency." ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri death row prisoner who is due to be executed next month has been hospitalized because of a “medical emergency,” a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Corrections said.
The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ
Buried on page 554 of the plan is a directive to execute every remaining person on federal death row — and dramatically expand the use of the death penalty. During the final six months of Donald Trump’s presidency, his administration carried out an unprecedented execution spree, killing 13 people on federal death row and ending a 17-year de facto federal execution moratorium.
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