a Sunni extremist convicted of killing a Shia political leader ten years ago was executed in in Pakistan's central Punjab province.

an Iranian man convicted of raping and murdering a young girl was hanged in public in the northern town of Babol, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Delara Darabi, 19, has reportedly been sentenced to death for a second time after her case was retried. She is at risk of imminent execution for a murder which took place when she was 17 years old.

a Chinese government official has been executed for spying for Taiwan, and thousands of civil servants have been shown an “educational” video of the case as a warning, two government sources said.

proclaiming his innocence, a former county jail officer was executed for raping and smothering his girlfriend's 3-year-old son.

Human rights activists praised the government's approval of a draft law that would eradicate the death penalty for certain crimes but stressed capital punishment should be abolished completely.

Iran's hard-line government banned a rights group led by Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, saying her Center for Protecting Human Rights had not obtained the proper permit.

a court in Kyrgyzstan sentenced to death three men charged with killing a member of the Central Asian state's parliament.

Europe's main human rights watchdog told Polish President Lech Kaczynski his support for restoring the death penalty was an attack on European values and would breach Poland's treaty obligations.

more than 7,400 men and 36 women are waiting in 81 Pakistani jails to be hanged, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has confirmed.

Anuchai Noithai, a man convicted of shooting four people dead, wounding three others and damaging seven vehicles after an argument with his ex-wife in 2005, was sentenced to death by the Saraburi Court, Thailand.

Wen Mengjie, an official from the Agricultural Bank of China, was sentenced to death for corruption involving 15 million yuan ($1.87-million).