the lawyer for the only surviving alleged member of the Chechen commando unit responsible for the 2004 Beslan school massacre appealed for a "fair" verdict for his client.

Hojjat Zamani, a political prisoner and member of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran in Gohardasht prison in Karaj, west of Tehran was hanged.

an Iranian court sentenced seven individuals to death for allegedly playing a role in twin bombings in the south-western city of Ahwaz that occurred in January, the state-run daily Iran reported.

two men accused of murder were hanged in the southern city of Shiraz, the state-run news agency ISNA reported.

Convicted killer Clyde Smith was executed for fatally shooting a Houston cabdriver during a robbery in 1992.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo ordered prison authorities to commute the sentences of 280 people on death row to life imprisonment.

a 15-year-old schoolboy has been sentenced to death accused of murder, government-run websites announced.

Hands Off Cain President and MEP Marco Pannella deposited a question to the European Parliament regarding the violation of human rights and religious repression perpetrated in China commencing with the case of Gao Zhisheng, a lawyer who for years has taken up the case of those fighting government abuse, censorship and freedom of speech.

an Indonesian court sentenced to death three men from an indigenous tribe on the remote Seram island, north of Maluku province, for ritual killings.

Iran’s Supreme Court upheld a death by hanging sentence against two teenagers in Tehran, the official state news agency reported.

a military court sentenced nine men, including al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to death for a plot to carry out a chemical attack on the kingdom.

Pakistani national Akthar Hussain, 70, on death row in the UAE, was to walk out a free man after receiving a pardon from the family of his Indian victim.