an Egyptian state security criminal court sentenced two brothers to death on charges of leading a gang of arms dealers and drug-traffickers.

Pakistan's highest court delivered a legal victory to Mukhtaran Bibi, a woman who accused 13 men of orchestrating her gang rape three years previously.

on the Compendiun of New Catechism to be presented tomorrow, HOC General Secretary Sergio D’Elia declared: “We have never been fundamentalist about death penalty abolition – in fact we campaign for a UN moratorium on capital executions with a view to abolition country by country – so we will certainly not be the ones to criticize the New Catechism for the Catholic Church’s pragmatic, reasonable and anti-prohibitionist stance, not dissimilar to Marco Pannella’s, on certain issues.

the brother of Taiwan pop singer Yu Tien and a further seven Taiwanese were executed by Chinese authorities for drug-related cases to mark international anti-drugs day.

China used International Anti-Drug Day to confirm its approach to the problem, with state media reporting the execution of a series of traffickers.

seven convicted drug traffickers were put to death in China in the run up to the UN-sponsored International Anti-Drug Day, bringing to 22 the number executed in the past two days, the People's Court Daily said.

China executed Wu Xiaohui, 24, a key woman drug trafficker who had left a gruesome tale of smuggling and murders, the 'China Daily' reported.

China relaunched an anti-drug crusade in April when it announced that the number of drug addicts had grown to 790,000 people, a 6.8 percent increase over 2004.

at least 14 convicted drug traffickers were executed in China, two days before the United Nations-sponsored International Anti-Drugs Day, state press reported.

Saudi authorities executed a man for raping a woman at knifepoint in front of her family, the Interior Ministry announced.

Indonesia carried out its first public canings, punishing 15 gamblers in front of a noisy crowd in tsunami-hit Aceh, the only province in the world's most populous Muslim nation to implement Islamic law.

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi expressed “sincere appreciation of Hands Off Cain for its strong commitment to the consolidation in the international order of the modern humanist values founded on the protection of rights and the individual” in a message on occasion of the launch of HOC’s The Death Penalty Worldwide 2005 Report and the presentation of the Abolitionist of the Year Award.