the Yemeni embassy in Rome announced that “by order of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the death sentence on Amina Ali Abulatif al Tuhaif has been revoked and a new trial granted in which she will have the opportunity to prove her innocence as established by the criminal code of Yemen.”

the life of Amina al-Abduladif, a 21-year-old mother, was spared shortly before she was due to face a firing squad as appeals by British ministers and others prompted the Yemeni President to suspend the execution.

European leaders are making desperate pleas to spare the life of a 21-year-old mother who is expected to face a firing squad in Yemen on May 2.

Saudi Arabia executed two men who beat to death a Pakistani to stop him exposing their "shameful" homosexual relationship, the country’s Interior Ministry said. It said Ahmed al-Enezi and Shahir al-Roubli, both Saudis, ran over Malik Khan in their car, beat him on the head with stones and set fire to his corpse "fearing they would be exposed after the victim witnessed them in a shameful situation."

four Filipinos convicted of murdering a compatriot were beheaded by the sword in the western Saudi city of Taef. Miguel Fernandez, Sergio Aldana, Wilfredo Batista and Antonio Alviza were convicted of murdering Jaimie de la Cruz.

an Afghan court sentenced four people to death for planning two attacks in 2004 that killed 12 people, including four Americans, a senior judge said, blaming both incidents on Al Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia executed Salim Abdul-Rahman, a Pakistani national.

it was reported that three Iranian men convicted of raping and murdering a young boy were publicly hanged in Susangerd, a town in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan.

Shanmugam Murugesu, a man convicted of drug trafficking at the centre of a high-profile campaign to end the death penalty in Singapore, was executed despite the appeals of his teenage twin sons and his lawyer's pleas that it was a denial of "natural justice".

authorities in the Indonesian province of Jambi executed Turmudi bin Kasturi, a man sentenced to death over the killing of four people in 1997.

three convicted armed robbers were executed in southwest China's Chongqing municipality after engaging in a cross province crime spree that included a bombing and gun battles with police. The three were executed immediately after the Chongqing high court issued the execution order.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo granted a 90-day reprieve to 21 convicts scheduled for execution. The convicts, who were originally due to be executed in April and May, had their dates of execution pushed back to July and August following the order sent by Arroyo to the Justice Department.