the sale of organs taken from executed prisoners appears to be thriving in China, an undercover investigation by the BBC found.

a court in Bangladesh was scheduled to try a Muslim journalist for writing articles favourable to Israel.

a Californian official admitted that state prison guards had bungled the recent controversial execution of former gang leader Stanley Williams, but denied that lethal injection constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

three Iranian men convicted of drug trafficking were hanged in a prison in the southeastern city of Zahedan. The men were identified as Ali Karimi, Gholam Koohkan and Khodamorad Lashkarzadeh.

two condemned prisoners were hanged in Pakistan’s central Multan Jail and the Dera Ghazi Khan District Jail. Tahir Saleem had shot dead his uncle Muhammad Latif when he recognised him during a robbery attempt on October 12, 1996.

the United Nations urged Iraq to commute all sentences of capital punishment after the northern Kurdistan region executed 10 people earlier in the week.

Hands Off Cain announced it would participate in today’s vigil, promoted by Christian Democratic party leader Pierferdinando Casini, outside the Indonesian embassy in Rome.

four prisoners were hanged by Iran’s judicial officials inside Zahedan Prison. State-run daily Khorassan identified those executed as Shah Mohammad, Nader Rigi, Abdolali Balouch and Mohammad Shakib.

Justice Minister Seiken Sugiura has expressed his unwillingness to give the go-ahead for executions before he steps down on September 26 with the outgoing Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, according to sources.

over 6,000 people watched the public execution of a convicted murderer in the Somali capital Mogadishu, the first execution since the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) seized power from an alliance of warlords on June 5.

the Philippines signed a United Nations protocol banning the re-imposition of the death penalty in the country.

Iraq's northern Kurdistan administration executed 11 people, officially described as terrorists, sentenced to death for taking part in beheadings and bombings.