the Chamber of Deputies approved the first reading of the law repealing all references to the death penalty in Italy’s Constitution.

an Egyptian human rights organization has called for the abolition of capital punishment, on the fourth annual World Day against the death penalty.

the government should commit itself to presenting a resolution for a moratorium on executions at the ongoing UN General Assembly, even without unanimous support from the European Union. At a press conference held in Rome, Hands Off Cain appealed to the Italian government to respect the motion calling for such action approved by the Chamber of Deputies last July 27.

Jordan’s top appeals court commuted the death sentence of two convicted Islamists over a millennium bomb plot.

the European Union hailed the Philippine government for “turning its back” on capital punishment and now counts on the latter to urge more countries to do the same, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs reported.

Sang Yuechun, president of Jigang Industrial and Trade Group Corp. and a former deputy to China's legislature, was executed in the northeastern province of Jilin on charges of rape, weapons possession and misappropriating 120 million yuan (US$15 million; €12 million).

former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, a member of Saddam Hussein's defence team, predicted that a bloodbath would follow should an Iraqi court trying the former president have him executed.

judges postponed their verdict in Saddam Hussein's trial. The verdict had been expected on October 16 but was delayed until at least the end of the month while judges took extra time to review the evidence and make sure their case was airtight.

Jaj Singh and Gurwail Singh, both residents of Bhitewad village near Amritsar, India, were scheduled to hang for murder in Amritsar’s high-security Central Jail on October 16.

a bill that would abolish capital punishment in Morocco is scheduled to be presented to parliament within the few next months, said Bouchra Khiari, deputy of the opposition party Le Front des Forces Démocratiques (FFD).

the wife of Mohammed Afzal, who has been slapped with a death sentence for a terror attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001, has filed a mercy petition before President APJ Abdul Kalam, news reports said.

a man was hanged in the city of Ahwaz, south-west Iran, the government-run news agency Fars reported.