the fate of convicted murderer Took Leng How will be known within three months, as a last-ditch effort to spare him from the gallows reaches the President. Some 34,000 people have signed a petition against Took's death sentence, due to be submitted to President Nathan.

4 of the nation's top arson experts have concluded that the state of Texas executed a man based on scientifically invalid evidence, and they called for an official re-investigation of the case.

six nations with poor human rights records are among those that have been elected to a new Human Rights Council at the United Nations, although notorious violators that had belonged to the predecessor Human Rights Commission did not succeed in winning places.

on the election of the new Human Rights Council at the United Nations, Hands Off Cain Treasurer Elisabetta Zamparutti stated: “The presence of totalitarian regimes such as China, Saudi Arabia and Cuba amongst the nations elected as members of the new Human Rights Council risks damaging the authority and effectiveness of the body entrusted with improving the UN’s approach to human rights.

an Islamic court in Saudi Arabia has awarded capital punishment to two Indians for smuggling narcotics into the kingdom about two-and-a-half years ago, reports reaching from Damam said.

an occult practitioner has been sentenced to death by a Madhya Pradesh court for sacrificing a two-and-a-half-year-old in his search for hidden treasure.

among the inmates languishing in prisons throughout the DRC are at least ten children, some as young as 15 years old, condemned to death and waiting to be executed, according to a September 2005 letter from the United Nations to the Congolese government.

the Zambian Supreme Court upheld four death sentences passed by the High Court, including that of a police officer who killed three High School teachers in September 2001.

in a statement from Austria's government, which holds the rotating EU presidency, the 25-nation bloc said it was particularly worried about 10 executions carried out at Iran's Evin prison on April 19 and the indictment of human rights defender Abdolfattah Soltani.

China ratified an extradition treaty with Spain, the first such treaty the communist nation has signed with a developed western country, in which Beijing agreed not to execute repatriated criminals.

it was reported that human rights groups fear that three Uyghurs might face torture and even death if extradited to China.

an Iranian man convicted of murder was hanged in a prison in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.