an Appeal Court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico recently held that it would be unconstitutional to extradite Juan Melendez Cruz to Pennsylvania if he faces a possible death sentence, Death Penalty Information Centre reported.

He was reacting to a report by the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat which quoted Arab diplomatic sources as saying Tripoli was likely to annul capital punishment soon as part of a deal to allow the nurses to be released.

Hands Off Cain adheres to the candle light vigil, promoted by the Italian daily Il Foglio, to be held on November 3 in front of the Iranian embassy in Rome and also denounces Europe’s policy of ‘constructive dialogue’ with the Mullah’s regime.

a Delhi court sentenced to death Mohammad Ashfaq, a Pakistani, over a militant attack at New Delhi's famous 17th Century Red Fort in December 2000.

Seiken Sugiura, Japan's new justice minister, was forced into an embarrassing retreat, less than 24 hours after he said he would refuse to sign execution orders because he opposes the death penalty.

the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice joined other key players in the administration of Ghana’s justice system in a call for the abolition of the death penalty.

Canberra issued a forceful last-minute appeal to Singapore to spare the life of Nguyen Tyong Van, a condemned Australian drug smuggler, after the island state ignored repeated pleas for clemency from Australia's top leaders.

the Noakhali district court, Bangladesh, sentenced to death Arifur Rahman for murdering his young wife after failing to obtain dowry from her parents at Char Bata, Subarna Char district.

an Additional District and Sessions court in Manikganj, Bangladesh, sentenced to death six men for killing a neighbour at Garakol, Sadar district.

Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty defended a tip-off to Indonesian authorities that left nine young Australians, the so-called "Bali Nine", facing the death penalty on drugs charges.

Marlin Gray, a Missouri man convicted of killing two women by pushing them off a bridge spanning the Mississippi River, was put to death in the early morning, a Missouri prison official said.

Father Mikhail Dudko, the public relations head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Foreign Church Relations Department, said that while discussing whether or not the moratorium on the death penalty should be lifted in Russia, one should be aware that life imprisonment may prove to be a more severe punishment than death.