in a dissenting opinion filed in the capital case of Moore v. Parker, Judge Boyce Martin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit wrote that "the death penalty in this country is arbitrary, biased, and so fundamentally flawed at its very core that it is beyond repair."

Saudi Arabia has set up the first government department for monitoring and boosting human rights in the kingdom, a Saudi official statement said.

Iran's supreme court upheld a death sentence against Khadijeh Shahla Jahed, a jealous woman who murdered the wife of a former national football hero.

a court hearing opened on a lawsuit filed by Tomoyoshi Emura, a lawyer who was seeking disclosure of the layout of the execution chamber at the Osaka detention centre in a bid to break the secrecy surrounding executions in Japan.

Mohammed Ahmed Khan, 33, Abdul-Basir Abdul Hai Mohammed Ishaq, 50, Faz Mohammed Youseff Khan, 32, and Sayed Mudassar Shah Hekmat, 26, were hanged at a police station in the capital Kuwait City, and the public was later invited to view the strung-up bodies.

a man convicted of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl was executed in central Pakistan.

it was reported that a man who impersonated a Communist Party official was among at least 24 people executed ahead of China's October 1 National Day holiday.

Supreme Court Vice-President Wan Exiang said China would not do away with the death penalty despite a series of recent miscarriages of justice, but would improve its review of lower courts' rulings.

the state of Indiana executed Alan Matheney, a man who bludgeoned his ex-wife to death while on temporary leave from prison, where he was serving a sentence for nearly killing her.

Indonesian authorities postponed the scheduled execution of two brothers on death row for a premeditated triple murder.

saudi authorities executed a Saudi national for killing a compatriot by shooting him after running over him with his car.

the state of Ohio executed Herman Ashworth, a 32-year-old man who admitted killing another man in a $40 robbery and had waived most of his appeals, saying he deserved to die.