International Death Penalty News 2022, Issue 35: Iran, Sri Lanka, South Korea, United States of America

Iran

On Monday, August 22, 2022, the execution of three people occurred at Shiraz Central Prison.  Two of the individuals were identified as Hossein Mohseni and Fariborz Jamei.  The third individual, a woman, has not been identified by name.  Hossein was convicted and sentenced to death on drug-related charges.  Fariborz was convicted of murder and sentenced to qisas, that is, retribution in kind.  The woman was also convicted of murder and sentenced to qisas.  State officials and the media have not reported on the executions.

On Tuesday, August 23, 2022, 37-year-old Ahmad Karami was executed in Neishabur prison.  After being convicted of murder, Ahmad was sentenced to qisas, that is, retribution in kind.  The murder occurred when Ahmad had a finical dispute with another person about four years ago.  State officials and the media have not reported the execution.  

On Wednesday, August 24, 2022, Abbas Sarouni was executed in Gonbad Kavous Prison.  Abbas, a former police officer, spent 21 years on death row for murder.  The crime occurred while Abbas was off-duty.  He shot and killed another person during an argument in 2001.

On Wednesday, August 24, 2022, five people were executed in Rajia Shahr Prison.  Two of the men were identified as Mohammadreza Shahramfar and Hadi Jozi.  The other three were not named.  All were convicted of murder and sentenced to qisas in separate cases.  Five other men were also scheduled to be executed, however, they were spared by the families of their victims who either granted forgiveness or an extension to pay the diya (blood money).

Official sources report that an unnamed man was executed in a Tehran prison.  He was convicted of rape.  The report does not state the name of the individual executed, nor does it give the specific date the execution was carried out.

On Saturday, August 27, 2022, Omid Ali Geravand was executed in Khorramabad Prison.  Omid was convicted of murder and sentenced to qisas, that is, retribution in kind.  State officials and the media have not yet reported the execution. 

On Saturday, August 27, 2022, the execution of two Baluch prisoners occurred in Zabol Prison.  The two men were identified as Gholamreza Kazemi and Reza Zahmati.  They were arrested about four years ago and convicted on drug-related charges.  State officials and the media have not reported their executions.

On Sunday, August 28, 2022, 40-year-old Rahim Ghanbarzehi, and 37-year-old Mojtaba Khademinejad were executed in Shiraz Central Prison.  Rahim, a Baluch man, was convicted and sentenced to death on drug-related charges.  Mojtaba, an Afghan national, was also convicted and sentenced to death on drug-related charges. Neither execution has yet been reported by state officials or the media.

On Sunday, August 28, 2022, Esmail Bargrizan and 27-year-old Saeed Sabaki, both Baluch men, were executed in Bandar Abbas Prison.  Esmail was convicted on drug-related charges after being arrested about four years ago.  Saeed was also convicted and sentenced to death on drug-related charges.  State officials and the media have not yet reported the executions.

Sri Lanka

On Wednesday, August 31, 2022, President Ranil Wickremesinghe informed the Supreme Court that he will not be signing execution warrants.  In 2019, former President Maithripala Sirisena announced he would sign execution orders for four death row inmates, convicted on drug-related charges.  Several petitions were prepared and recently presented to the Supreme Court opposing the executions.  The petitions are asking the Supreme Court to issue orders nullifying the previously signed execution warrants.

South Korea

Sixty-year-old Oh Seok-joon, a nominee for just of the nation’s Supreme Court, has announced his opposition to the death penalty.  He does not personally support capital punishment and believes it should eventually be abolished.  His views have been made public ahead of his confirmation hearing.  South Korea has not carried out an execution since 1997, when 23 convicted murderers were executed by hanging.

United States of America

During a three-week period in October 2002, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, a/k/a John Lee Malvo, killed 10 people in the Washington Metropolitan Area.  The murders are often referred to as the Beltway sniper attacks.  Three others were also injured in the shootings.  Forty-one-year-old Muhammad was convicted and sentenced to death for his role as the mastermind of the crimes.  He was executed in 2009.  Malvo, who was 17 years old at the time of the shootings, pled guilty and was sentenced to six life sentences, without the possibility of parole.  Now, the Maryland Supreme Court has ruled that Malvo must be resentenced.  Since Malvo’s conviction and sentencing, the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.  It is a ruling that is to be applied retroactively.  Malvo is currently at the Red Onion State Prison in Virginia, the state where he was first convicted.  He is eligible for parole this year.

On Monday, August 29, 2022, Patrick Schroeder died while on death row in Nebraska.  Patrick was 45 years of age.  His cause of death was not immediately clear and is under investigation.  All inmate deaths are investigated.  Patrick was sentenced to life in prison in 2006, after being convicted of murdering 75-year-old Kenny Albers, a farmer in Pawnee City for whom Patrick had once worked.  Patrick murdered his cellmate, Terry Berry in 2017, while serving his life sentence.  He claimed Terry was too talkative.  Patrick did not fight his death sentence.  With Patrick’s death, only 11 men remain on death row in the state.

In 2006, Leo Boatman was convicted of murdering two Sante Fe college students – Amber Peck and John Parker.  The students were camping in the Ocala National Forest in Florida when they were shot to death.  Four years, later, in 2010, Boatman was convicted of killing his cellmate.  Now, Boatman has been convicted of murdering another inmate, Billy Chapman in 2019.  Billy was scheduled to be released from prison in less than a year when Boatman and his accomplice William Wells strangled and stabbed him to death. Wells has already been sentenced to death and now Boatman faces his first death sentence.  Boatmen waived his right to have a jury decide his sentence.  Instead, a judge will decide his punishment.

For more information regarding how your financial support can help, please click here.