WASHINGTON, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - While the US Supreme Court this week raised the prospect of a drop in executions by agreeing to consider whether the lethal cocktails used to kill most prisoners are constitutional or cruel, the future of pending death sentences is unclear.

Amid controversy over how the injections are given -- they can cause an agonizing death if done incorrectly -- the court said Tuesday it would examine the cases of two men condemned to death in the southern state of Kentucky.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The US Supreme Court stepped in late Thursday to halt the execution of a Texas man convicted of killing his parents nine years ago.

Carlton Turner Jr., received a stay handed down by the US Supreme Court, according to Michelle Lyons, public information director for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

'We received notification of a stay shortly before 10:30 p.m. (CST),' Lyons said. 'He is being transported back to the Polunsky Unit in Livingston (Texas).

TEHRAN, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - Iran hanged three convicted rapists in public in a sports complex in the northern city of Babol on Thursday, the latest executions in a drive officials say is aimed at improving public security.

The men, identified as Hadi Jafartabar, Mirhadi Mirtaghi and Shojae Moussavizadeh, were sent to the gallows in the early morning amid cheering crowds, the website of state broadcasting reported.

According to the Fars news agency, they had been found guilty of raping 12 women, most of whom were university students.

WASHINGTON, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - An American man convicted of rape and murder was executed by lethal injection late Tuesday as the US Supreme Court mulled the constitutionality of the technique.

Michael Wayne Richards, 48, was put to death by the state of Texas after spending 20 years behind bars for raping and murdering a nurse in 1986.

Richards, who had prior convictions on charges of auto theft, robbery and forgery, confessed to the crime but said he shot the 58-year-woman by accident when the gun went off unexpectedly.

WASHINGTON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - In a move which could slow the rate of US executions, the Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider the constitutionality of lethal injections used in almost all the country's death penalty cases.

Amid growing controversy over exactly how lethal injections are administered, the court said it would examine the cases of two men condemned to death in the Southern state of Kentucky.

TOKYO, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's justice minister on Tuesday called for quicker executions, saying death row inmates should be hanged 'automatically' within six months of losing their last appeal.

Japan is the only major industrial nation other than the United States that practises the death penalty, despite having one of the world's lowest crime rates.

Kunio Hatoyama, who was reappointed to his job Tuesday in the new cabinet, said Japan needed capital punishment because 'we have been seeing extremely violent, vicious crimes in recent years.'

WARSAW, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Most Poles oppose capital punishment, according to a survey published Friday, three days after Warsaw blocked European Union plans for a symbolic campaign against the death penalty.

Fifty-two percent of those questioned were against capital punishment, while 46 percent favoured it, marking a fall in previous support, the poll by the GfK Polonia public opinion institute found. Two percent had no view.

TEHRAN, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Iran has hanged three people for carrying out deadly bombings two years ago in Ahvaz, the capital of the oil-rich Khuzestan province, the state news agency IRNA reported on Thursday.

'They were hanged after their sentence was confirmed by the supreme court,' city prosecutor general Moussa Piraie said, without specifying if the executions took place in prison or in public.

The prosecutor said the executions of other individuals found guilty of the attacks would take place as long as the verdicts were confirmed by the supreme court.

TEHRAN, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Iran on Wednesday hanged eight criminals, including seven in public in a southeastern town, the latest in a growing number of executions officials say are aimed at improving public security.

The seven hanged in public were convicted of drug trafficking in the town of Mahan, 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the provincial capital of Kerman, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

WASHINGTON, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - An American man who killed his four children was executed by electrocution Wednesday in Tennessee, the first time the US state has used the electric chair since 1960.

Daryl Holton, 45, had chosen to be killed by electrocution over receiving a lethal injection, the method most used to kill death row inmates in the United States.

BEIJING, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - A senior official at the troubled Agricultural Bank of China has been executed for corruption, following years of ordering suppliers to pay him kickbacks, state media said Wednesday.

Wen Mengjie, 50, former head of information technology at one of the bank's Beijing branches, was executed Tuesday for embezzling and taking bribes worth 15 million yuan (1.97 million dollars), the Xinhua news agency reported.

WASHINGTON, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Daryl Holton, set to be executed Wednesday for murdering his four children, is opting to die by electrocution -- a method shunned by many prisoners who fear they might catch fire during the grisly procedure, or linger as long as 20 minutes before dying.

Most prisons and executioners want to avoid the spectacle of electrocuting prisoners whose arms and legs flail around and who often urinate, vomit, defecate or burn when the electrical current courses through their bodies.

TEHRAN, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Iran has hanged two convicted rapists separately in the Shiite religious cities of Mashhad and Qom, local media reported on Tuesday.

The first hanging was carried out in a prison in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the Khorassan newspaper said. The man was identified as Javad Z., nicknamed 'Dirty Javad.'

The execution was attended by fellow inmates jailed on related crimes.

The second man, Mohammad Hosseinzadeh, was publicly sent to the gallows on Tuesday in Qom for repeated rape.

BAGHDAD, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - There can be no clemency for three aides of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who are to be hanged for their roles in the 1988 massacre of ethnic Kurds, a senior judge said on Monday.

Moneer Haddad, a member of the Iraqi appeals court, told reporters that warnings by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani that he would not sign the execution order of one of the condemned men would not prevent their hangings from taking place.

Haddad said Talabani had no authority to grant clemency for 'international' crimes such as genocide.

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Friday said he would not sign the execution order of a top Saddam aide whom he personally had 'provoked' to rebel against the executed dictator.

Talabani said he would refuse to sign the order of Sultan Hashim al-Tai, senior officer who became defence minister during Saddam's regime, if the approval of his three-member presidency is sought by the Iraqi supreme court.

BRUSSELS, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - Poland on Thursday rejected plans to organise a 'European Day' against the death penalty in a new clash between the Kaczynski brothers and their EU partners as the country heads towards elections.

During a meeting of EU ambassadors, Poland vetoed a European Commission proposal to designate October 10 -- which has been an international day of opposition to capital punishment since 2003 -- 'European Day against the Death Penalty'.

TEHRAN, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - Iran on Thursday hanged two drug traffickers in its southern port city of Bandar Abbas, a day after executing 21 criminals within the space of a single morning, the Fars news agency reported.

The two men, identified only as Ali D. and Karim T., were hanged for trafficking in heroin and opium, the report said, without saying if they had been hanged in prison.

Iran on Wednesday morning had hanged 17 drug traffickers in prison in its northwestern city of Mashhad, while four other criminals were hanged in public in the southern city of Shiraz.

WASHINGTON, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - A convicted murderer apologized for his crime and asked the victim's family for forgiveness just before he was executed by Texas authorities on Wednesday.

'I just pray that some day you will find forgiveness in our heart. Know that your loved one is in a good place,' said Tony Roach, addressing his last words to the family of the woman he murdered and raped nine years ago, Ronnie Hewitt.

'I am sorry for what I have done,' Roach said, according to a transcript of his last statement released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

TEHRAN, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - Iran on Wednesday executed 21 criminals in a single day, the latest of a growing number of executions in a crackdown which officials say is aimed at improving security in society.

State television said 17 drug traffickers were hanged in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi province which borders Afghanistan and Turkmenistan while four other criminals were hanged in public in the southern city of Shiraz.

The latest hangings mean that Iran has now executed more people in 2007 than it was estimated to have done for all of 2006.

BEIJING, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - A member of China's parliament was executed on Wednesday along with a policeman accomplice for killing his young mistress, in the latest harsh sentence meted out to a corrupt official, state media said.

Duan Yihe, 61, a former delegate to the National People's Congress, was executed for killing his 31-year-old mistress, Xinhua news agency said.

Duan's nephew Chen Zhi, a local policeman who planted a mixture of explosive chemicals in a car belonging to the mistress, was also executed.

BEIJING, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - Fewer people are being executed in China than at any time over the past decade thanks to a new rule that means the country's top court must review every death sentence, state press said Wednesday.

China does not release figures on the number of people it executes and global rights groups such as Amnesty International say thousands of people are put to death each year in the Asian nation, far more than any other country.

TEHRAN, Sept 2, 2007 (AFP) - Iran hanged a convicted murderer in public on Sunday in a town just south of the capital Tehran, the latest in a growing number of public executions in the Islamic republic, Iranian media reported.

The man, identified as Amir Hossein Rouhafza, 20, was hanged from a crane in front of large crowds early in the morning in the town of Gharchak, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital.

He had been found guilty of killing a judge named Javad Jafarpour inside the court building in the town.

WASHINGTON, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - A Texas man, sentenced to death despite never having killed, was spared a lethal injection Thursday after the governor commuted his sentence hours before an execution that had sparked international outcry.

State governor Rick Perry's decision came after the pardons and paroles board voted 6-1 to recommend that he commute Kenneth Foster's sentence to life in prison. He had faced execution for his complicity in a drug-fueled murder.

WASHINGTON, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - A man convicted of murdering a taxi driver in 1994 was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, Texas authorities said.

John Joe Amador, 32, was pronounced dead at 6:37 pm (2337 GMT) by authorities in Huntsville, Texas, the state Department of Criminal Justice confirmed in a statement.

'God forgive them for they know not what they do,' Amador said before he was put to death, according to authorities. 'Peace, Freedom, I'm ready.'

WASHINGTON, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - A man convicted of killing a woman during a bar robbery in Texas in 1994 was executed late Tuesday after the US Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch appeal.

DaRoyce Mosley, 32, was pronounced dead at 10:57 pm (0357 GMT Wednesday) after he was given a lethal injection at the prison in Huntsville, Texas.

His execution was delayed five hours while he awaited a decision on his final appeal, which the top US court rejected.

WASHINGTON, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) - Kenneth Foster has never killed anyone. But the 30-year-old Texan still faces execution this week, despite protests at home and abroad, for his complicity in a drug-fueled murder.

Foster was arrested in August 1996 with three other young black men, all of whom were said to be high on marijuana, following the deadly shooting of Michael LaHood, 25, in the southern Texan city of San Antonio.

WASHINGTON, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - A US man was executed late Thursday in the southern US state of Alabama after being convicted for murdering a man in 1988, prison authorities announced.

Luther Williams, 47, was pronounced dead at 6:21 pm (2321 GMT), Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Atmore prison, told AFP.

In January 1988 Williams stole a car from the parking lot of a motel in Birmingham, Alabama. In the car trunk he found a .22 caliber pistol.

STRASBOURG, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - The Council of Europe condemned the United States and Japan over their use of the death penalty Thursday, calling a recent execution in Texas a 'macabre milestone'.

The Council of Europe is a 47-member body for the defence of human rights and democracy.

Rene van der Linden, president of the council's parliamentary assembly, condemned the recent executions of Johnny Ray Conner in the US state of Texas and of three people on death row in Japan.

RIYADH, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - A Saudi was beheaded by the sword on Thursday after being convicted of murdering a compatriot, the interior ministry said.

Wassim al-Khamidi was executed in the southwestern Asir region for shooting dead Fahd bin Muhtehet following an argument, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA new agency.

The execution took to 123 the number of people put to death by Saudi Arabia this year, outstripping the previous record of 113 during all of 2000.

Last year 37 people were beheaded.

TOKYO, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - Japan on Thursday hanged three convicted murderers in their 60s as the country stepped up the pace of executions, officials and activists said.

A justice ministry spokeswoman said the prison system hanged three criminals but declined to provide any further details, in line with standard procedure in Japan.

Amnesty International said the three were convicted murderers aged between 60 and 69.

Japan is the only major industrialised nation other than the United States to practice the death penalty.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - The state of Texas executed a convicted murderer by lethal injection on Wednesday, in its 400th execution since the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

Johnny Conner was pronounced dead at 6:20 pm (2320 GMT), eight minutes after he was injected with the lethal concoction.

'What is happening to me now is unjust and the system is broken,' said the 32-year-old African-American as he lay strapped to the execution gurney.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - The state of Texas executed a convicted murderer by lethal injection on Wednesday, in its 400th execution since the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

Johnny Conner was pronounced dead at 6:20 pm (2320 GMT), eight minutes after he was injected with the lethal concoction.

'What is happening to me now is unjust and the system is broken,' said the 32-year-old African-American as he lay strapped to the execution gurney.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - A convicted murderer on Wednesday was put to death by lethal injection, in Texas' 400th execution since the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

Johnny Conner was pronounced dead at 6:20 pm (2320 GMT), eight minutes after he was injected with the lethal concoction.

'What is happening to me now is unjust and the system is broken,' said the 32-year-old African American in his final statement. 'Please forgive me,' he said, addressing a woman among the witnesses to his execution.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - A convicted murderer on Wednesday was put to death by lethal injection, in Texas' 400 execution since the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

Johnny Conner was pronounced dead at 1820 pm (2320 GMT), eight minutes after he was injected with the lethal concoction.

'What is happening to me now is unjust and the system is broken,' said the 32-year-old African American in his final statement.

HUNTSVILLE, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - The US state of Texas brushed off critics Wednesday as it readied for the grim new milestone of its 400th execution since capital punishment was reinstated in the United States in 1976.

A handful of protesters were outside the prison here -- some to assert their support for capital punishment, others against -- while 32 year old African- American Johnny Ray Conner was being prepared for his late afternoon execution by lethal injection for shooting to death a store clerk during a 1998 hold-up.

WASHINGTON, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Texas governor Rick Perry bluntly rejected an appeal from the European Union to bring in a moratorium on the death penalty as the state prepares Wednesday for its 400th execution since 1976.

'While we respect our friends in Europe, welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas,' Perry's spokesman, Robert Black, said in a statement.

TEHRAN, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Iran on Wednesday hanged in public a murderer in the southern city of Shiraz, the official IRNA news agency reported.

It identified the man as Qoliollah Q. adding that he murdered Kheirollah Asqari while stealing his vehicle.

The Islamic republic has stepped up executions of rapists, drug traffickers and others deemed a public menace in recent months as part of a campaign it says is aimed at improving security in society.

WASHINGTON, Aug 21, 2007 (AFP) - The state of Oklahoma on Tuesday executed a man for raping and killing a pregnant woman, following his conviction through genetic evidence 10 years after the crimes, prison authorities said.

Authorities at the McAlester prison gave Frank Welch, 46, a lethal injection and he was declared dead at 6:21 pm (2321 GMT), the state Department of Corrections said.

In February 1987 Welch strangled Jo Talley Cooper with a leather strap and then raped her, leaving her dead on the floor of her living room where her husband found her.

BAGHDAD, Aug 21, 2007 (AFP) - Eleven men convicted of crimes ranging from kidnapping and murder to rape and planting bombs were hanged in Baghdad on Tuesday, the Iraqi prime minister's office said.

'These people were convicted by the Iraqi judicial process, and a verdict of execution was certified by the appeals chamber under due process,' a statement said.

'Therefore the Iraqi prime minister's office ordered the executions and they were done this morning,' it added.

The hangings took place in prisons between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm (0600 GMT and 0900 GMT).

BRUSSELS, Aug 21, 2007 (AFP) - The European Union on Tuesday voiced 'great regret' at the impending 400th execution in Texas and urged the United States as a whole to stop all imminent judicial killings from being carried out.

'The European Union strongly urges (Texas) Governor Rick Perry to exercise all powers vested in his office to halt all upcoming executions and to consider the introduction of a moratorium in the State of Texas,' the EU's current Portuguese presidency said in a statement.