it was reported that two Sudanese soldiers were sentenced to death by a special court set up to try crimes in the country's western strife-torn Darfur region for murdering a civilian there.

a court in the self-declared republic of Somaliland sentenced eight people to death for killing three aid workers between 2002-2004.

Philip Alston, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions for the UN Commission on Human Rights, urged the Singapore government not to hang Nguyen Tuong Van, a convicted Australian heroin trafficker, saying the execution violated international legal standards.

a man was publicly hanged in the town of Qazvin, west of the Iranian capital Tehran.

the Democratic candidate Tim Kaine beat the Republican Jerry Gilmore in the elections to become governor of Virginia.

Hands Off Cain was awarded the peace prize “Love and Psyche 2005” by the 11th MEDFILM festival, a competitive international film festival dedicated to human rights.

Iran’s State Supreme Court upheld a death sentence against a woman who had been accused of murdering her abusive husband, the state-run Fars news agency reported.

the number of people sentenced to death in the United States and the number executed fell again in 2004, according to the latest government figures.

Steven Van McHone was executed by lethal injection in the early morning for the 1990 shooting deaths of his mother and stepfather.

an Iranian man convicted of murder was hanged in a prison in the central city of Isfahan.

two young men were hanged in a public square in the northern city of Gorgan after being found guilty of lavat, or homosexual relationship, the daily Kayhan reported.

a Nigerian Islamic Sharia court sentenced two men to death by hanging for killing and sexually abusing a three-year old girl.