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Death penalty

The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, refers to the practice by states of putting a person to death for committing certain crimes.

Dozens of countries still use executions as a punishment for certain offenses, although most, including those in the European Union, have abolished it completely. Many people consider the death penalty a violation of human rights. Here you can find an automatic compilation of all DW content on the death penalty.

Hangman's knot on a rustic wooden table in a conceptual image of death penalty or suicide

Japan executes 3 death row inmates 21.12.2021

Japan has executed three death row inmates for the first time since December 2019, said Kyodo news agency. It is one of the few industrialized nations to still carry out capital punishment.
Activists attend a candlelight vigil against the impending execution of Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, sentenced to death for trafficking heroin into Singapore, outside the Singaporean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Singapore's High Court has halted the imminent execution of a Malaysian man believed to have a mental disability, amid pleas from the international community and rights groups. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Singapore stays execution of Malaysian after COVID infection 09.11.2021

Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was sentenced to death for trafficking drugs into Singapore. His lawyers have argued that his mental disability affects his decision-making and impulse control.

Flowers, candles and mementos sit outside one of the makeshift memorials at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 27, 2018. Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school will reopen on February 28, 2018 two weeks after 17 people were killed in a shooting by former student, Nikolas Cruz, leaving 17 people dead and 15 injured on February 14, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / RHONA WISE (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)

US: Gunman accused of carrying out Parkland school shooting pleads guilty 20.10.2021

Nikolas Cruz apologized as several tearful relatives of victims watched him, online, enter his pleas. Early next year, a jury will decide whether to impose the death penalty or give a life sentence without parole.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a media conference at the conclusion of an EU summit in Brussels, Tuesday, May 25, 2021. European Union leaders gathered for a second day of meetings to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and to assess new measures on how to meet targets to become climate-neutral by mid-century. (John Thys, Pool via AP)

French EU presidency to seek global end to capital punishment 09.10.2021

Despite widespread support within France for the death penalty, President Emmanuel Macron announced he will be campaigning on a global scale to end the practice.
TOPSHOT - A Taliban fighter walks past a mural along a street in Kabul on September 15, 2021. (Photo by BULENT KILIC / AFP) (Photo by BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images)

Trans in Afghanistan: A mortal danger under the Taliban 02.10.2021

Danish is transgender, Khalid is gay. But in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule, LGBTQ people face the death penalty. So their only option is to flee the country. Here's their story.
DW Podcast | Science Unscripted

Safe swimming, infidelity, and a correction 22.09.2021

We love getting emails from you — and this episode's full of them. Got something to say? We're SU@dw.com

Refugee Olympic Team: Saeid Fazloula 25.07.2021

Saeid Fazloula was a star in Iran, until he "betrayed" the regime and faced the death penalty. Having fled the country, he now qualifies for a special team at the Olympics. But it's neither his old nor new home.

Strassenszene in Freetown, Sierra Leone, 16.06.2021. || Modellfreigabe vorhanden

Sierra Leone abolishes the death penalty 23.07.2021

Sierra Leone's president said he would sign the abolition of capital punishment, fulfilling a personal campaign pledge. Some 99 people in the country are currently sitting on death row.
The U.S. Department of Justice logo is seen on a podium following a news conference in the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, Wednesday, March 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) |

US attorney general imposes moratorium on federal executions 01.07.2021

The move by Attorney General Merrick Garland is a major reversal in policy from the previous Trump administration.
31.08.2020 *** Former chief editor of a Telegram channel Nexta Roman Protasevich was detained in Minsk onboard a Ryanair plane that made an emergency landing in the Belarusian capital on 31 August 2020 File photo: Roman Protasevich former editor in chief of the Nexta (or Nehta) Telegram and youtube channel initiator covering the Belarusian protests, speaking during the rally are seen in Gdansk, Poland on 31 August 2020 Belarusians living in Gdansk and their Polish supporters attend Solidarity with Belarus rally in Gdansk, to support protesters in Belarus. (Photo by Michal Fludra/NurPhoto)

Belarus reporter said 'death penalty awaits me here' — witness 23.05.2021

Journalist Raman Pratasevich might face the death penalty after Belarusian authorities forced his plane to land in Minsk. A passenger on the flight described Pratasevich's reaction.
SAN QUENTIN, CA - MARCH 13: In this handout photo provided by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, San Quentin's death lethal injection facility is shown before being dismantled at San Quentin State Prison on March 13, 2019 in San Quentin, California. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced today a moratorium on California's death penalty. California has 737 people on death row, the largest death row population in the United States. (Photo by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via Getty Images)

Amnesty: Global death penalties at lowest in a decade 21.04.2021

A report by Amnesty International said that death penalties in 2020 declined worldwide. However, some countries continued and even increased the number of executions despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, seated center, displays a bill abolishing the death penalty after signing it as he is surrounded by legislators and activists at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va., Wednesday, March 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Virginia becomes first southern US state to outlaw death penalty 25.03.2021

Virginia has banned capital punishment, joining 22 other US states. Governor Ralph Northam highlighted racial bias prevalent in the use of the death penalty.
(200331) -- DHAKA, March 31, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks at a video conference from her office in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 31, 2020. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said the government will extend the ongoing shutdown to manage the spread of COVID-19. She announced the government's plan while holding a video conference with senior government officials at the country's 64 districts. (PID/Handout via Xinhua)

Bangladesh: 14 given death penalty over plot to kill PM Sheikh Hasina 23.03.2021

The failed mission by radical Islamist militants in Bangladesh occurred more than 20 years ago, during Sheikh Hasina's first term as prime minister.
An appeal hearing in the Daniel Pearl murder case was held at the Supreme Court, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. The court on Thursday has ordered the release of Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh who was convicted and later acquitted in the gruesome beheading of American journalist Pearl in 2002. The court also dismissed an appeal of Sheikh's acquittal by Pearl's family. (AP Photo/Waseem Khan)

Pakistan: Top court bars execution of two mentally ill prisoners 10.02.2021

Pakistan's top court has commuted the death sentences of two mentally ill prisoners. The landmark judgement has been hailed by rights groups.
5.1.2021, Tianjin, China, This handout photo taken on August 11, 2020 and released by the Second Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin, shows Lai Xiaomin (C), former chairman of China Huarong Asset Management Co., standing during his trial at the Second Intermediate People’s Court in Tianjin. - Lai, the former chairman of one of China's largest state-controlled asset management firms, was sentenced to death on January 5, 2021 for soliciting 260 million USD in bribes as well as bigamy. (Photo by Handout / Second Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT AFP PHOTO / Second Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

China executes former top assets banker 29.01.2021

Chinese CCTV media said Lai Xiaomin was executed, just weeks after being sentenced to death for taking "extremely large" bribes as well as for bigamy.
28.08.2020 FILE - This Aug. 28, 2020, file photo shows the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind. Orlando Hall, a federal inmate who killed a Texas teenage, is set to be executed at the prison on Thursday, Nov. 19. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File) |

US carries out last federal execution before Trump leaves 16.01.2021

Donald Trump's presidency has seen its 13th and final federal execution. The conservative-majority Supreme Court paved the way, despite calls for clemency.
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