a man was hanged in the city of Ahwaz, south-west Iran, the government-run news agency Fars reported.

a 17 year old boy was sentenced to death in Iran for murder, the Etemad daily reported.

Pakistani prison authorities asked a court to fix a new date for the execution of a British man sentenced to hang in a case that was raised by Prime Minister Tony Blair with President Pervez Musharrafa few days earlier.

more than 100 Nigerians condemned to death had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment as part of independence day celebrations in the West African country.

Bangladesh's Supreme Court ordered a stay of execution for seven Islamist militants sentenced to death for bomb attacks that killed at least 30 people in 2005, said Fazlul Karim, secretary of the Supreme Court.

countries where capital punishment is practiced should exempt children under 18 -- or adults convicted while minors -- from the death penalty, a UN human rights expert report said.

two Iranian brothers convicted of murder have been hanged publicly in the western province of Lorestan, the official news agency IRNA said.

the sale of organs taken from executed prisoners appears to be thriving in China, an undercover investigation by the BBC found.

a court in Bangladesh was scheduled to try a Muslim journalist for writing articles favourable to Israel.

a Californian official admitted that state prison guards had bungled the recent controversial execution of former gang leader Stanley Williams, but denied that lethal injection constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

three Iranian men convicted of drug trafficking were hanged in a prison in the southeastern city of Zahedan. The men were identified as Ali Karimi, Gholam Koohkan and Khodamorad Lashkarzadeh.

two condemned prisoners were hanged in Pakistan’s central Multan Jail and the Dera Ghazi Khan District Jail. Tahir Saleem had shot dead his uncle Muhammad Latif when he recognised him during a robbery attempt on October 12, 1996.