World / Crime & Legal	Aug 1, 2017
Yemeni convicted of child rape and murder first to be publicly executed since 2009
A man convicted of raping and murdering a 3-year-old girl was executed in Sanaa on Monday in front of hundreds of onlookers, the first public execution there since 2009. "Security was very tight, because authorities were fearing a revenge attack by armed men from the ...
Asia Pacific	Jul 19, 2017
North Korea conducts public executions for theft, watching South Korea media: report
North Korea carries out public executions on riverbanks and at school grounds and marketplaces for charges such as stealing copper from factory machines, distributing media from South Korea and prostitution, a report issued Wednesday said. The report, by a Seoul-based nongovernmental organization, said the often ...
World / Politics	Apr 18, 2017
Trump ignores State Department warning, congratulates Turkey's Erdogan after contentious poll win
Ignoring concerns raised by international monitoring groups, U.S. President Donald Trump called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to congratulate him on the country's contested referendum greatly expanding presidential powers. The move comes despite protests from opposition parties and international monitoring groups — as ...
Asia Pacific / Crime & Legal	Mar 1, 2017
China's execution of 72-year-old Colombian drug mule riles Bogota, stuns family
A retired journalist who joined the criminal underworld while researching a book on South America's drug cartels became the first Colombian, and possibly the first Latin American, to be executed in China for drug offenses. The execution Monday night of Ismael Arciniegas occurred amid a ...
World / Crime & Legal	Jan 5, 2017
Mass killer Roof doesn't ask to be spared, tells jurors: 'Nothing wrong with me psychologically'
Convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof spoke to the jury for the first time at his death penalty trial Wednesday, telling them there's nothing wrong with him psychologically and that he is not trying to keep any secrets from them. But perhaps most important is ...
National / Crime & Legal	Dec 30, 2016
Japan's death-row population numbers 129 as 2016 ends
The number of death-row inmates in Japan in 2016 is expected to stand at 129 by Dec. 31, a rise of two people from last year, while continuing to surpass the threshold of 100 since 2007. Three inmates were executed during the year, while seven ...
Asia Pacific	Oct 20, 2016
North Korea executed 64 in public this year as Kim feels insecure: Seoul spy agency
The North Korean regime under Kim Jong Un has carried out 64 public executions in the first nine months of this year, South Korea's spy agency said Wednesday. The North, which had previously exercised restraint in undertaking public executions, resumed them after the U.N. Security ...
National / Crime & Legal	Jan 16, 2016
Travesty of justice: legal reform unlikely despite erroneous convictions
by David Mcneill
Two elderly men fighting for decades to clear their names are poised to receive high-profile retrials in 2016 and yet their ordeals are unlikely to trigger wide-ranging reform to the country's justice system, experts say.
National / Politics	Oct 8, 2015
New justice minister backs capital punishment, but says careful approach required
Newly appointed Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki on Wednesday supported the need for capital punishment but added that execution orders should be decided carefully. "Since a majority of the public says capital punishment is unavoidable, it is not appropriate to abandon the system," Iwaki said in ...
National	Sep 16, 2015
Public support for death penalty not overwhelming, researchers say
by Keiji Hirano
Japanese may not be as enthusiastic about death row inmates being sent to the gallows as previously believed. A recent study by researchers shows public support for the death penalty in Japan is not deeply entrenched, despite a government survey indicating more than 80 percent ...
Asia Pacific / Crime & Legal	Feb 2, 2015
Two China cult members executed for McDonald's murder
A father and daughter in China have been executed for beating to death a woman in a McDonald's outlet, a Chinese court said Monday. The victim had refused their advances to join their cult. Zhang Fan and her father, Zhang Lidong, were executed after the ...
World / Social Issues	Oct 1, 2014
Iranian prisoner executed for heresy, rights group says
A former psychologist has been executed for heresy in Iran after eight years in detention, human rights groups said, in the latest example of what activists say is a worrying rise in the use of death penalty by the Islamic Republic. Mohsen Amir Aslani was ...