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A Chinese court on Friday convicted a mining billionaire said to have links with former security tsar Zhou Yongkang of murder and sentenced him to death. Liu Han led private company Hanlong, which once launched a billion-dollar bid for an Australian firm. He and his brother Liu Wei were found guilty of "organising and leading a mafia-style group", murder and other crimes, the Xianning Intermediate People's Court said. They and three accomplices were sentenced to death.

A court in Egypt has sentenced to death 528 supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. They were convicted of charges including murdering a policeman and attacks on people and property. The group is among some 1,200 Muslim Brotherhood supporters on trial, including senior members. Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since Mr Morsi was removed by the military in July. Hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested.

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas has obtained a new batch of the drugs it uses to execute death row inmates, allowing the state to continue carrying out death sentences once its existing supply expires at the end of the month.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — An arsonist was sentenced to death on Monday for killing five men who died of heart attacks during a wildfire that ripped through the hills east of Los Angeles a decade ago. Superior Court Judge Michael Smith had the option of sentencing Rickie Lee Fowler, 31, to the harshest penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

PARAGOULD, Ark. – An Arkansas man who shot a police officer during a traffic stop last year, then coldly shot him again in the face while he was pleading for his life, was sentenced to death on Saturday. Jerry Lard was convicted Thursday of capital murder, and a Greene County judge agreed with the jury that the 38-year-old should die for killing Trumann police officer Jonathan Schmidt in April 2011.

No one outside the government of Iran knows for know for sure if Youcef Nadarkhani is still alive. It’s believed his execution order has already been signed. Despite pressure from Iranian officials, the 34 year-old pastor has refused to deny Christ and “accept the prophet Muhammad as his savior." He was first detained by the Islamic regime in 2009. This week the White House released this statement: “The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms reports that Iranian authorities’ reaffirmed a death sentence for Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani for the sole reason of his refusal to recant his Christian...

After ongoing judicial deferments inside Iran and a steady stream of other world-tilting events outside, the hot international story of Iranian Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani had cooled for a few months. But, now, it’s back on the front burner again, as the Ayatollah and the state courts ruled last week that the original capital punishment sentence brought to bear on the pastor for apostasy would, indeed, stand. Available for interviews to break down the sharia law context around this case is a most unexpected individual. IQ al-Rassooli is an Iraqi-born religious scholar and Middle East affairs analyst on a crusade...

The Pakistani doctor who was instrumental in the raid on Usama bin Laden’s compound has had all his assets sealed by the government, according to local news agencies. Shakeel Afridi and his family also had their bank accounts frozen. He is currently being held for treason by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency and could face the death penalty for his role in the May 2011 raid that took down the world's most-wanted terrorist. The doctor allegedly helped conduct a vaccination program in the village of Abbottabad in an attempt to get within bin Laden’s compound and obtain DNA from the Al...

Last week, an Iranian Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence for computer programmer Saeed Malekpour, whose photography program was used without his knowledge, to upload pornography to the internet.

An Iranian court has convicted an American man of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death, state radio reported Monday, in a case adding to the accelerating tension between the United States and Iran. Iran charges that as a former U.S. Marine, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, received special training and served at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his alleged intelligence mission. The radio report did not say when the verdict was issued. The 28-year-old former military translator was born in Arizona and graduated from high school in Michigan. His family is of...

The prosecution does not plan on asking for a death sentence for Amjad Awad, who pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the horrific murders of five members of the Fogel family in Itamar last March. According to a report on Israel’s Channel 10 News, the military prosecution and the defense have reached an agreement, according to which Awad will be sentenced to five life sentences in prison. The report stated that in order to impose a death penalty, unanimous support of all the judges in the panel is required. The prosecution previously attempted to impose a death sentence on a Palestinian...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - An illegal immigrant who drove away after hitting a toddler in a Salem parking lot has been sentenced to one year and five months in prison. Juan Lopez-Perez pleaded guilty Thursday morning to failing to perform the duties of a driver in a crash. Defense attorney Steven Walls said his client left the scene Nov. 24 because a crowd was gathering, he feared for his safety and he was in the country illegally. Before his conviction, the district attorney’s office said Lopez-Perez told witnesses he knew he’d struck and killed a child and that he tried...

<p>Outraged New Yorkers said yesterday that admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other terrorists deserve to be put to death -- and some even volunteered for the job.</p> <p>"Kill them without a trial. Just a bullet in the head and say goodbye. Why waste taxpayer money?" said Thomas Pland, 70, a truck driver from Astoria, Queens.</p>

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee man convicted of kidnapping, rape and murder charges in the fatal carjacking of a couple on a date has been sentenced to death. The defendant, 28-year-old Lemaricus Davidson, showed no reaction Friday as jurors announced the death sentences for the murders of 21-year-old college student Channon Christian and her 23-year-old boyfriend, Christopher Newsom. Davidson was found guilty of abducting the couple in Knoxville during a 2007 carjacking by several armed men.

Greensboro, NC -- Greensboro police say an 80-year-old man is not facing charges after he shot and killed a break-in suspect early Wednesday morning. Charles Haithcock called 911 immediately following the shooting of 19-year-old Michael L. Medley who he says broke into his home. Haithcock: “A man broke in on me and pulled a gun. i shot him and he’s laying out in the yard.” 911 Operator: “Is he breathing?” Haithcock: “I don’t know. he broke in the window. He pulled the air conditioning out in the living room. And I heard something and he come back to the bedroom....

Beltway Sniper Shootings FR THREAD ARCHIVES This thread is for everyone, be sure to bookmark it. If you create a new thread, feel free to post a link to it here as well. It will be updated as often as possible. Maryland Area Prayer Thread: Pray for Metro area Freepers and Families If anyone has time today and is so inclined, you can listen to the Prince George County or Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Dispatches on the internet at http://www.sconfire.com/livedispatch.htm. The links are on the right side about halfway down. I will try to be tuning in through out...

Court sets execution date for Washington, DC sniper mastermind A Virginia judge has ruled that the mastermind behind the 2002 sniper attacks in Washington, DC that left 10 people dead will be executed on November 10. John Allen Muhammad is expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and ask Governor Timothy M. Kaine for clemency. Muhammad was sentenced to death for the slaying of Dean Meyers, one of 10 people shot to death during a 2002 rampage that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area. uhammad and teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo killed six people in Alabama and Louisiana before moving...

An Indian court on Thursday sentenced to death three people, including a married couple, for planting bombs that killed 52 victims in the city of Mumbai in 2003.

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET - Quote: THE SOON TO BE DECEASED YEMEN 7... ...recently sentenced to death.

A convicted arsonist was sentenced to death Friday for setting a Southern California wildfire that killed five federal firefighters struggling to defend a rural home from raging, wind-driven flames.