Entries by Nina Motazedi

More than one hundred bills have been introduced this year in 34 states and in Congress to expand and limit use of the death penalty, abolish and reinstate the death penalty, modify execution protocols and secret the information about them, and alter aspects of capital trials. Thus far, ten bills in five states have been enacted, with Florida enacting the most legislation. Of the bills that have been signed into law, three modify execution protocols; three expand the circumstances for death…

According to Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), there have been at least 343 executions in Iran in the first four months of 2025 — a 75% increase over the same period in 2024, when 195 executions were recorded. Secrecy remains an issue with less than 4%, or only 13 of the 343 executions, reported by official sources. In April alone, there were at least 110 executions, the highest monthly total yet this year. Trends identified in recent years appear to be sustained into 2025, with executions…

According to Amnesty International’s Annual Death Penalty Report, 15 countries carried out 1,518 known executions in 2024, constituting the lowest number of executing countries for the second consecutive year and the highest recorded execution figure since 2015, driven by increases in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. 46 countries imposed 2,087 new death sentences in 2024, a 14% decrease from the prior year; however, changes in the accessibility of information across countries make year-to-year…

On March 24, 2025, Iwao Hakamada was awarded just over $217 million yen ($1.4 million) in compensation after spending 46 years wrongfully incarcerated on Japan’s death row. According to Mr. Hakamada’s legal representative, Hideyo Ogawa, this award marks the “highest” compensation ever provided for a wrongful conviction. Mr. Hakamada, who was exonerated last year, is only the fifth death-sentenced prisoner to receive a retrial in post-World War II Japan, all of which have resulted in…

After a series of last-minute legal challenges, culminating with a denial of stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, Louisiana executed Jessie Hoffman on March 18, 2025. Mr. Hoffman’s execution marked both the state’s first execution in 15 years and the state’s first execution using nitrogen gas — only the second state to use this new method. State officials acknowledged that Mr. Hoffman exhibited “convulsive activity” as he inhaled nitrogen gas through a mask while strapped to a gurney, but Louisiana…

A new report published by Ius Stella, a non-profit in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), highlights ongoing human rights violations in the nation’s efforts to eliminate urban gangs, which has been marked by arbitrary arrest and the imposition of death sentences, including on vulnerable civilian youth populations, after military trials whose fairness is in grave doubt. Earlier in January, reports emerged that 170 death-sentenced prisoners, ages 18 to 35, convicted for their links to…

For the third consecutive session, the Georgia House of Representatives is reviewing a bill seeking to provide better protections to capital defendants with intellectual disabilities. Currently, the state requires a defendant to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that they have an intellectual disability – the only death penalty state to have this unusually high standard. Introduced by a bipartisan group of legislators on January 27, 2025, HB 123 would lower the standard of proof required to a…

On January 16, 2025, Taiwan carried out its first execution since April 2020. Huang Linkai, who was sentenced to death in 2017 for the 2013 murders of his ex-girlfriend and her mother, was executed at the Taipei Detention Center. Although Mr. Huang’s attorney filed a last-minute appeal, the execution proceeded. There are questions whether Mr. Huang’s execution was in accord with the September 20, 2024 ruling by Taiwan’s Constitutional Court, which mandated that the government amend certain…

On January 23, 2025, the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction enjoining the enforcement of an Arizona statute, Victim Contact Limits, which prohibits criminal defense teams from contacting crime victims and their family members directly. The restrictions are found in Arizona’s Victim Rights Implementation Act (Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13- 4433(B)) and also apply to death penalty cases. The decision means that prisoners and their lawyers may no longer engage directly with victims and their…

Progress towards global abolition of the death penalty continues with Zimbabwe’s end-2024 decision to nearly eliminate the practice, only preserving the right to impose death when the country is under a declared public emergency. Zimbabwe’s last execution was in 2005. The biennial United Nations General Assembly Resolution on a Moratorium on the Death Penalty, passed with a record 130 votes on December 17, 2024. Nine countries that had either abstained, voted against, or not voted in 2022…