International Death Penalty News 2025, Issue 04: China, India, Indonesia, Iran, United States of America

China

On Monday, January 20, 2025, it was announced that 62-year-old Fan Weiqiu was executed in Zhuhai, a southern city. Fan was convicted of driving his small SUV through a crowd of people outside a sports complex on November 11, 2024. Thirty-five individuals were killed and 45 others were injured. Police arrested him at the scene, where he had self-inflicted knife wounds that resulted in him falling into a coma. About a month later, he pled guilty and was sentenced to death. He attacked due to his unhappiness with his divorce.

On Monday, January 20, 2025, 21-year-old Xu Jiajin was executed in Wuxi in eastern Jiangsu province. Xu was convicted of murdering eight people, and injuring 17 others, during a mass stabbing at a vocational school in November 2024. He was sentenced to death in December 2024. Before his execution, Xu was permitted to meet with his family a final time.

A court in Shenzhen has sentenced a man to death for murdering a 10-year-old Japanese boy in September 2024. The boy was walking to a Japanese school when he disappeared, causing great concern among the Japanese community in China. The boy was eventually found stabbed to death.

India

In January 2021, several men offered a girl, her father, and her three-year-old niece, rides on their motorbikes instead of waiting for the bus. Instead of taking them where they wanted to go, the men took them to a secluded location and raped the girl. The men then beat the father to death when he tried to stop the rape. The toddler was Laos killed. Now, five men have been sentenced to death for the rape and murders. A sixth man was also tried. He was sentenced to life in prison for murder, as it could not be proven he participated in the rape.

On Monday, January 20, 2025, 24-year-old S.S. Greeshma was sentenced to death by the Additional District Session Court in Neyyattinkara, Kerala. She was convicted of murdering Sharon Raj by poisoning him three years ago. Greeshma was also given various prison terms and fined for other crimes related to the murder.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Sanjay Roy, according to recently filed court documents. Roy is convicted of raping and murdering a 31-year-old doctor trainee at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024. Earlier this month, after his conviction, a court sentenced Roy to life in prison. The Central Bureau of Investigation has now filed an appeal seeking to have him sentenced to death due to the brutal nature of the crime.

Indonesia

An agreement between the French and Indonesian governments has been reached that will transfer French national Serge Atlaoui from Indonesia’s death row to France. Serge was convicted and sentenced to death on drug-related charges. He has since been diagnosed with cancer and was asking to be returned to France to undergo medical treatment. A transfer date of February 4, 2025, is scheduled. He has been in prison in Indonesia for the last 18 years.

Iran

Information recently obtained by Iran Human Rights indicates that on Sunday, October 27, 2024, Ebrahim Shooli was executed in Gachsaran Prison. Ebrahim was missing one of his legs due to disability. He was convicted and sentenced to death on drug-related charges. He was not given notice of his execution, preventing him from having a final visit with his family. State officials and the media have not yet announced the execution.

On Thursday, January 16, 2025, 31-year-old Saman Davoudian, and 36-year-old Rashid Zeynabi were executed in Khorramabad Central Prison. Executions are traditionally carried out by hanging. Saman was arrested about six years ago on charges of murder. He was convicted and sentenced to qisas, that is, retribution in kind. Rashid was arrested about four years ago, also on murder charges. The father of one was convicted and sentenced to qisas. Under Iranian law, all killings are considered intentional murder, with mitigating evidence rarely considered. After conviction, the family of the deceased chooses between granting forgiveness or demanding qasis, or diya (blood money). There is no limit to the amount of diya a family can ask for. If the amount is not raised, the inmate is often executed. State officials and the media have not reported the executions.

On Thursday, January 16, 2025, 32-year-old Mohammad Amiri-Bahravand was executed in Khorramabad Central Prison. Mohammad was arrested about four years ago and accused of murdering a relative. He was sentenced to qisas, that is, retribution in kind. Under Iranian law, all killings are considered intentional murder, with mitigating evidence rarely considered. After conviction, the family of the deceased chooses between granting forgiveness or demanding qasis, or diya (blood money). There is no limit to the amount of diya a family can ask for. If the amount is not raised, the inmate is often executed. State officials and the media have not yet reported the execution.

United States of America

On Wednesday, January 22, 2024, Sean Carter was scheduled to be executed in Ohio. Ohio rescheduled his execution to November 17, 2027. Forty-five-year-old Sean is convicted of murdering his 68-year-old adoptive grandmother Veader Prince in Farmington, Ohio.

Seventy-nine-year-old William “Tommy” Zeigler has been on Florida’s death row for the last 49 years. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife Eunice, her parents Perry and Virginia Edwards, and Charlie Mays. Charlie was a customer at the Zeigler family furniture store in Winter Gard, Florida, where all the bodies were discovered. The men had all been beaten and the women were shot. Tommy was also shot in the stomach, however, during his trial, the gunshot was stated to be self-inflicted. Tommy has insisted that he is innocent of the crime and has recently been granted permission to have additional DNA testing conducted. He and his attorney allege that Charlie was actually one of the killers. No hearing has yet been scheduled to review the results of the DNA testing. Tommy is the longest-serving death row inmate in Florida.

President Donald Trump is a known supporter of the death penalty, carrying out a record 13 executions in the final months of his first term as president. During his 2024 campaign, he often spoke about resuming federal executions, which had been paused by President Joe Biden, who served between Trump’s two terms. Trump has also spoken of expanding the use of capital punishment. During the first day of his second term, President Trump signed an executive order directing the attorney general to “take all necessary and lawful action” in assisting states obtain drugs to carry out lethal injections. He has also authorized the Justice Department to seek the death penalty in appropriate federal cases. While Trump is also expected to resume federal executions, only three inmates remain on death row after Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 inmates. As part of the executive order, Trump also directs the Attorney General to evaluate and encourage states to file capital charges for the 37 inmates where appropriate and applicable.

A bill has been proposed in Idaho that would make the firing squad the primary form of execution. Currently, the firing squad is a secondary measure, to be used if lethal injection drugs are unavailable. If approved, the bill would not go into effect until about halfway through next year. Idaho has struggled to obtain execution drugs in the past and has struggled to establish the necessary IV lines on inmates to administer the drugs.

Lawmakers in Montana are considering a bill that would allow the state to resume executions. Executions were halted in 2015 after a court ruled pentobarbital did not qualify as an “ultra-fast-acting barbiturate,” the standard required by law to be used in lethal injections in the state. Under the new bill, the phrase “ultra-fast-acting” would be removed and replaced with “an intravenous injection of a substance or substances in a lethal quantity sufficient to cause death.” Similar bills have previously been proposed but ultimately failed. There are currently two death row inmates in Motanat, with the last execution occurring in 2006.

Prosecutors in Maricopa, Arizona are seeking the death penalty against Paul Jon Thomas, who is accused of murdering his ex-wife and another man. Forty-four-year-old Anna Marie Chavez and 49-year-old Anthony Tate were murdered in Phoenix, Arizona on January 5, 2024. Anna Marie’s ex-husband Thomas, was arrested for the crime. He had previously been charged with stalking her and making her fear for her life.

Forty-year-old David Martin was convicted and sentenced to death in Ohio, for the September 2012, murder of 21-year-old Jeremy Cole during an attempted robbery in Warren, Ohio. Thirty-year-old Melissa Putnam was shot in the head during the attack but survived. While awaiting trial for this crime, Martine was one of three inmates in Trumbull County jail who took a corrections officer hostage in April 2014. Now, the Ohio 11th District Court of Appeals has upheld his death sentence. Martin was attempting to argue that he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for the death penalty. He also claims his death sentence should be vacated due to court error during his initial trial. Both his arguments were rejected.

In 2010, Timothy Robert Ronk was sentenced to death for the murder of Michelle Craite two years earlier. Ronk was staying at Michelle’s home in Biloxi, Mississippi in 2008 when he stabbed her to death. He then burned down her home and fled to Florida with a woman he met online. Now, on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States rejected a request to review his case. Ronk has not yet been given an execution date.

A mistrial has been declared after a jury deadlocked in a death penalty case in Las Vegas, Nevada. Anthony Newton is on trial for the murder and dismemberment of Ulysis “Cesar” Molina, who disappeared on December 25, 2016. Prosecutors allege that Newton and his brother-in-law killed Molina, stuffed him in a suitcase, and took him to Las Vegas, where they chopped up his body. Then Newton took the remains to a vacant area and set them on fire. Newton’s first trial was declared a mistrial after a witness made comments that made it impossible for Newton to receive a fair trial. Now, at his second trial, the jury has announced that they are deadlocked after two weeks of deliberations and unable to provide a unanimous vote for any of the charges against Newton. Now, a meeting will take place next month to determine what happens next in the case.

Gentner Drummond, the attorney general in Oklahoma, has requested that inmate John Fitzgerald “George John” Hanson be transferred to state custody so his death sentence can be carried out. A similar request made to the Biden Administration was rejected. Drummond is likely to have more success under the Trump Administration, as President Donald Trump supports capital punishment. Sixty-year-old Hanson is sentenced to death for the carjacking, kidnapping, and murder of 77-year-old Mary Bowles in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hanson does not currently have an execution date scheduled.

The Supreme Court of the United States has ordered a review of Brenda Andrew’s case. Brenda is the only woman on death row in Oklahoma. She is convicted of arranging to have her boyfriend, James Pavatt, murder her husband, Rob Andrew. Both Brenda and James have been sentenced to death. Brenda successfully argued that her case should be reviewed due to irrelevant and prejudicial evidence introduced by prosecutors that violated her right to due process. The Supreme Court has ordered the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to review the case.