if the death penalty against Hussein was executed, it would be hanging until death and not by a shooting squad, said Jaafar Al-Mosawi, chief prosecutor of the trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. "It is a civil court not a military one," said Al-Mousawi, eliminating any legal exceptions due to the issue of age.

Ding Hanqin and Luo Xingguo, two men who led an oil theft ring, were executed in Guangyuan City, southwestern China's Sichuan Province, for stealing oil from a pipeline in western China.

Pakistan has resorted to hurried executions to reduce congestion of overcrowded jails holding death row inmates as also to deal with the spiralling crime rate in the country, a human rights body has claimed.

Abdul Rehman, a man convicted of murder, was hanged in Kot Lakhpatt jail, Pakistan, at 4:30 am.

the US should adopt a moratorium on death sentences, the UN Human Rights Committee said, noting that capital punishment appears to be disproportionately imposed on minority groups and poor people.

Moldova assumed an international obligation not to apply the death penalty.

Michael Lenz, a man who stabbed a fellow inmate to death during a pagan religious ceremony, was executed on July 27. Lenz, 42, had no final words before the lethal drugs were injected. He was pronounced dead at 9:07 pm at the Greensville Correctional Center.

the Chamber of Deputies unanimously approved the motion presented by Sergio D’Elia, Secretary of Hands Off Cain and MP for the Rosa nel Pugno party, entrusting the government to present the resolution for a moratorium on capital executions at the next UN General Assembly.

the state's revised plan for conducting lethal injections still falls short of ensuring they are conducted humanely, according to US District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. who halted Missouri's executions.

Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, granted a one-month stay of execution to Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British man who was due to be put to death a week later.

Bahrain's appointed upper chamber approved a tough law to combat terrorism already passed by the elected parliament and that critics say "punishes suspects for their intentions."

the three Islamic militants condemned to death for the Bali bombings in 2002 will be executed on 22 August in Nusakambangan prison in Cilacap, central Java province.