execution

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Iranian Man Executed as Israeli Spy
Iranian Man Executed
as Israeli Spy

Iranian Man Executed as Israeli Spy

Second man executed for supporting opposition group

(Newser) - Iran today hanged Ali-Akbar Siadat after convicting him of “spreading corruption on earth,” “supporting the Zionist regime,” and “opposing the Islamic republic" as a spy for Israel. According to Iranian authorities, Siadat met with Israel repeatedly over the course of six years, traveling to such...

Documents Detail California's Search for Death Row Drugs

Undertaking reads like spy fiction

(Newser) - The e-mail from one California prison official to another almost reads like something out of a spy novel: "May have a secret and important mission for you." Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation undersecretary Scott Kernan sent that message to assistant secretary Anthony Chaus on Sept. 29. The "...

California's About to Execute a Framed Man
California's About
to Execute a Framed Man
Nicholas Kristof

California's About to Execute a Framed Man

Case shows everything that's wrong with the death penalty

(Newser) - Judges around the country are decrying an upcoming California execution, because there’s ample reason to believe the condemned man was framed by police. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to hear the case of Kevin Cooper, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times explains, despite an extraordinary...

Texas Could Soon Rule Death Penalty Unconstitutional

State has unfair risk of wrongful conviction, lawyers will argue

(Newser) - In Texas of all places, the death penalty could soon be declared unconstitutional. The state (which leads the US in number of executions since 1976, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice ) has a disproportionately high number of wrongful convictions, attorneys will argue at a hearing Monday. Twelve...

UK Blocks Export of Popular Execution Drug to US

Thiopental sodium can't be exported for use in executions

(Newser) - Soon, the US will no longer be able to execute criminals using thiopental sodium from the UK. The UK government will issue an order requiring suppliers of the anesthetic to obtain a license before exporting to the US—and if there is a risk it will be used in executions,...

Somali Militants Execute Teens
 Somali Militants Execute Teens 

Somali Militants Execute Teens

The two boys were accused of molestation, spying, respectively

(Newser) - Militants from Somalia's most feared insurgent group used a firing squad to execute two teenagers in public yesterday, say witnesses and officials. The executions took place in front of hundreds of people summoned to witness the killings in the capital. The firing squad was made up of five masked men....

Pakistani Troops Appear to Kill Unarmed Men on Tape

Pakistan says it's jihadist propaganda

(Newser) - A blurry amateur video has surfaced that appears to show Pakistani troops lining up and gunning down six blindfolded young men, in what would appear to be an unlawful execution. A group called the International Pashtuns’ Association posted the video to Facebook, saying it was shot during the military’s...

Drug Shortage Puts Executions on Hold

Lethal injection ingredient in short supply

(Newser) - Executions by lethal injection have been put on hold in several states because of a shortage of a key ingredient for the killer shot. Sodium thiopental—generally used to render the condemned unconscious before other drugs are injected, although Ohio and Washington use it to kill—is in short supply...

Ga. Executes Inmate Who Attempted Suicide

Triple murderer dies by lethal injection

(Newser) - A Georgia inmate who tried to kill himself last week was executed by lethal injection last night after the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal for a stay of execution. Brandon Rhode, 31—convicted of the 1998 murders of a trucking company owner, his 11-year-old son, and his 15-year-old daughter—...

Virginia Executes Teresa Lewis

She conspired in the murder of her husband and stepson

(Newser) - Virginia has executed 41-year-old Teresa Lewis by lethal injection for conspiring in the murder of her husband and stepson. Lewis' case drew attention around the world because she is the first woman executed in the US in 5 years and the first in Virginia in nearly a century. Her supporters...

Execution Delayed After Inmate's Suicide Attempt

Georgia reschedules death shot for Friday

(Newser) - Georgia officials have delayed the execution of an inmate who tried to take his own life hours before the state was scheduled to take it. Convicted murdered Brandon Rhode slit his wrists and throat before he was due to die by lethal injection yesterday, AP reports. Georgia's Supreme Court granted...

Iran on Execution of Va. Woman: US Is a Hypocrite

Case shows double standard in outcry over Ashtiani

(Newser) - For those in New York protesting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies today (like the decision to stone a woman accused of adultery to death), Iran has fired back with the old "You're a hypocrite." Seems Tehran thinks Virginia opting to execute Teresa Lewis, a woman with a low IQ who...

Virginia Governor Won't Stop Woman's Execution

Supreme Court is last hope for Teresa Lewis

(Newser) - The first execution of a woman in Virginia in nearly a century remains on track for next week. Gov. Bob McDonnell yesterday rejected the clemency bid of 41-year-old Teresa Lewis , reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch . Her last hope is intervention by the Supreme Court. Lewis plotted with two men to kill...

Virginia Plans Rare Execution of Woman

But her lawyers say she's close to being retarded

(Newser) - Virginia is preparing to execute a woman for the first time in 98 years. Barring intervention from the governor or Supreme Court, the state will kill Teresa Lewis by lethal injection on Sept. 23 for paying two men to kill her husband and stepson in 2002. She's admitted her guilt,...

Taliban Publicly Stones Couple Over Affair

Crowd of about 100 killed adulterers

(Newser) - The Taliban had a couple publicly executed by stoning in Afghanistan yesterday, because “they had an affair,” the governor of the Imam Sahib district tells the Daily Telegraph . About 100 people, many of them Taliban insurgents, gathered to hurl rocks at the couple, who were forced to stand,...

Taliban Execute Pregnant Widow for Having Sex

First she's flogged 200 times

(Newser) - The Taliban publicly flogged a pregnant Afghan widow some 200 times before shooting her to death for having sex. Her lover escaped. Bibi Sanubar, 35, "was shot in the head in public while she was still pregnant," deputy provincial police chief Ghulam Mohammad Sayeedi told Agence France Presse...

Iranian Mom Spared Death by Stoning

Convicted adulteress may still die for crime

(Newser) - An Iranian woman convicted of adultery will be spared death by stoning—but her life may still be in jeopardy. Officials have not said if she will still be executed, reports the BBC . Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year old mother of 2, was charged in 2006 with having "illicit...

Iranian Woman Awaits Stoning Over Adultery

She will be executed soon, says attorney

(Newser) - A 42-year-old Iranian woman convicted of adultery in 2006 is scheduled to be executed by stoning, her attorney says. Her confession came after receiving 99 lashes. She later retracted that confession, and her lawyer explains that the woman is of Azerbaijani descent and speaks Turkish, not Farsi.

Utah AG Tweets Execution News

Critics find social media approach disrespectful

(Newser) - Today's execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner —the first by firing squad in 14 years—was also likely the first execution announced on Twitter, Mashable reports. Utah AG Mark Shurtleff tweeted about the event: “I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner’s execution....

Utah Firing Squad Executes Inmate

No reprieve for Ronnie Lee Gardner

(Newser) - Ronnie Lee Gardner became the first American executed by firing squad in the 21st century at just after midnight in a Utah prison. The convicted killer was strapped into a chair and five police marksmen fired at a target on his chest, AP reports. One gun was loaded with an...

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