Free Republic

WikiLeaks: The sleazy criminal organization dedicated to publishing U.S. secrets may loudly deny its leaks led to the hanging of a man in Iran Tuesday. But that's irrelevant because WikiLeaks gave Tehran the pretext it sought. A 24-year old Iranian man was the latest victim of the mullahs' monstrous tyranny this week, executed as a spy for Israel, supposedly for killing an Iranian nuclear scientist on behalf of his Zionist masters. That's a whiff of the twisted kangaroo court verdicts typical of Iran. In reality, Majid Jamali Fashi was a young kick-boxing instructor who visited Baku, Azerbaijan, for a tournament...

An appellate court is paving the way for executions of death row inmates, including two from East Tennessee. The Tennessee Court of Appeals last week issued an opinion affirming the decision of Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman to uphold a new procedure set by the state Department of Correction to try to ensure a death row inmate is unconscious before fatal drugs are administered under the state's three-drug lethal injection process. "Plaintiffs have simply failed to carry their heavy burden to demonstrate that the lethal injection protocol as revised in November 2010 constitutes wanton exposure to an objectively intolerable risk...

A convicted child sex offender was executed Wednesday for the beating death of a 10-month-old boy he was baby-sitting at a home in Dallas.

Three men convicted of multiple killings were hanged Thursday in Japan's first executions in more than a year and a half.

Three death row inmates in Japan were executed by hanging on Thursday, the country's first executions in more than a year and a half. The men were reportedly hanged in three different prisons. One was convicted of ramming a car into a train station and then knifing people nearby, killing five, in 1999. The second killed two people in 2001 and the third killed three in 2002.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court refused last-day appeals from convicted killer Jesse Joe Hernandez, clearing the way for his execution Wednesday evening for the 2001 beating death of a 10-month-old boy he was baby-sitting at a home in Dallas. The high court ruling came about two hours before the 47-year-old Hernandez, who previously was convicted of a child sex offense, could be taken to the Texas death chamber for lethal injection. The justices' order was brief and did not include an explanation for their decision. The execution would be the fourth this year in Texas. Ten-month-old Karlos...

/begin my excerpts On the Kim Jong-eun's Order "Not even a hair should be left" ... Mortar Used Lee Yong-soo Kim Jong-eun Ordered, "Not even a hair should be left" More than ten generals purged this year, "Another day, another one disappears." Since Kim Jong-il's sudden death last year, Kim Jong-eun took over and N. Korean military has been in the vortex of unprecedented 'purge drive' and the means of execution is (very) cruel, such as using mortar fire, a knowledgeable government source on N. Korea revealed on Mar. 21. He said, “Since Dec. 30 last year when Kim Jong-eun...

A young woman sits cross-legged on the ground laughing playfully as she is fed a lychee. Another plays cards in pair of baggy pink pyjamas. The moving images could show any group of young women as they go about their daily lives in prison. But just hours - and in some cases minutes - after the pictures were taken, each of the four women were led into a concrete yard and executed.

A 79-year-old man died after a nurse mistakenly gave him a drug used in state executions rather than an over-counter medicine. Richard Smith was admitted to hospital in Miami, Florida, after complaining of stomach pains and shortness of breath. The former teacher was prescribed Pepcid, an over-the-counter antacid, to try and cure the problem. Dead: Richard Smith, 79, was admitted to hospital in Miami, Florida, after complaining of stomach pains and shortness of breath Dead: Richard Smith, 79, was admitted to hospital in Miami, Florida, after complaining of stomach pains and shortness of breath But nurse Uvo Ologboride picked up...

BOISE - Triple murderer Paul Ezra Rhoades was executed this morning despite repeated last-minute appeals, in Idaho’s first execution since 1994 and only its second since 1957. “The time of death is 9:15,” Mountain time, Idaho Department of Corrections spokesman Jeff Ray announced. “The procedures are complete.” In his final words, Rhoades took responsibility for one of the murders, but not the other two. A friend of the family of one of the victims, who was in the chamber witnessing the execution, said, “The devil has gone home.” Unlike the last person executed in Idaho, double murderer Keith Eugene Wells,...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A convicted sex offender was set to die Wednesday evening for slipping into a San Antonio apartment in the middle of the night, snatching a 7-year-old girl and raping and strangling her.Appeals were exhausted and no late legal maneuvers were made to keep Guadalupe Esparza, 46, of San Antonio, from becoming the 13th Texas inmate to receive lethal injection this year. A clemency petition was rejected Monday by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.The battered body of Alyssa Maria Vasquez was found in some weeds behind a convenience store near her home hours after she was...

IRAN: Act by 9 November to call for Pastor Nadarkhani's pardon during Eid Pastor Nadarkhani was arrested in Rasht in 2009 while attempting to register his church. In 2010 he was tried and found guilty of apostasy (abandoning Islam), and was sentenced to death. He now awaits a decision on his case from the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, and a formal written verdict. His life is still in the balance.

A convicted killer raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips Wednesday when an Orange County jury announced that he should receive the death penalty for gunning down the manager of a Tustin Home Depot during a botched robbery in 2007. A jury of six men and six women deliberated for five hours before deciding that death was the appropriate penalty for Jason Russell Richardson, 40, convicted last year of first-degree murder plus special circumstances for the shooting death of Tom Egan, who was trying to protect his employees when he was shot in the stomach Feb. 9, 2007. ...

TRIPOLI, Libya—Fresh evidence has emerged that fighters battling for control of Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte were responsible for numerous extrajudicial killings and other possible atrocities, raising new questions about the final moments in Libya's revolution and adding to the challenges of national reconciliation. Residents of Sirte and medical workers say that they have identified dozens of corpses of both Gadhafi loyalists and antiregime fighters, who appear to have died by shots to the back of the head while their hands were bound. They say these bodies are among hundreds of unidentified corpses littering the streets of Sirte and filling...

The sitting U.S. President Obama, publicly supported the capture of Gaddafi which was soon followed by what appears to be his execution-style murder by his captors. When U.S. soldiers captured Saddam Hussein during the Presidency of George W. Bush, he was taken prisoner, handed over to Iraqi authorities and eventually tried, convicted and executed by them. President Bush has long been excoriated by liberals and leftists as a "war criminal", yet U.S. troops showed excellent restraint and control when arresting Saddam. Now various groups around the world are calling for an investigation into what, according to video of the event,...

And in a butcher shop (!) What's up next, string 'em from a bridge...? They were screaming "Allahu Akbar" when they finished him off- just like Al Qaeda does it, how bout that. While we still do not know who the rebels we just boosted to power actually are (yet plenty of reason to suspect the worst- i.e. packed with AQ and Muslim Brotherhood types), hey, we're about to find out.  Alas, so far-so bad, as they're already committing war crimes, up to and including summary executions... which appears to be just what happened to ole Muammar and out-of-luck son Mutassim. The UN and ICC suspect as much, as...

RAIFORD— A Florida man convicted of shooting a police officer to death during a traffic stop in 1978 is scheduled to be executed Wednesday. Barring an 11th-hour stay, Manuel Valle, 61, is set to become the first prisoner to die from the state's newly revised mix of lethal drugs. The concoction has been challenged, twice delaying the death sentence.

Manuel Valle scheduled to die of lethal injection in FloridaThe execution of a Florida man convicted of killing a Coral Gables police officer 33 years ago is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Manuel Valle, 61, is set to be executed by lethal injection at 4 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Raiford, over eight weeks after his original execution date. Valle was convicted of fatally shooting 41-year-old Luis Pena in the neck during a traffic stop in April 1978. He was driving a stolen car when he was stopped by Pena and officer Gary Spell, who also was shot but saved...

JASPER - Longtime civil rights activist and comedian Dick Gregory held a prayer vigil in Jasper Tuesday night in protest of Lawrence Brewer's execution. Brewer was sentenced to death and is scheduled to die Wednesday for his role in the dragging death of James Byrd Junior in 1998. Gregory, a strong opponent of capital punishment, will conduct an 18 hour fast and vigil at the Walls Unit in Huntsville. "When do the State qualify to kill somebody and the government qualify to kill somebody and it's all right"? said Gregrory. "It's never all right to kill somebody intentionally. There are...

Death-row inmates headed to their executions will no longer be able to pick what they’d like for their last meal. Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, issued this statement in response to concerns from Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire: “I believe Senator Whitmire’s concerns regarding the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their last meal are valid. Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit.” Here’s the original post about Whitmire’s concerns: Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman...