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Drug manufacturers and providers have been increasingly hostile to selling to states in order to prevent their medications from being used for executions. (Eric Gregory/ Lincoln Journal Star)

US state poised for first execution with fentanyl

Fentanyl killed more than 20 000 people in the US in 2016. It is 50 times more powerful than heroin and up to 100 times stronger than morphine

At the weekend G20 summit in Argentina, China agreed to designate any type of fentanyl as controlled substances. (Joshua Lott/Reuters)
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Nevada postpones execution using controversial opioid

Nevada’s plan to use fentanyl has drawn criticism from medics and activists who call the move a dangerous human experiment

Still from Shepherds and Butchers.

Shepherds and Butchers and one-dimensional characters

Both director and producer are stuck in an anachronistic milieu that will not be inconvenienced by nuanced and sensitive storytelling.

Kim’s cruelty blows the world away

But, more importantly, how much more will the top brass of North Korea tolerate?

Missouri corrections officials turned to The Apothecary Shoppe to supply compounded pentobarbital after manufacturers of the drug refused to provide it for lethal injections.

US pharmacy blocked from selling execution drug

A US court has blocked The Apothecary Shoppe from selling a drug used in executions that has could cause "lingering and ultimately inhumane pain".

Seven men executed in Saudi Arabia after rejected appeal

Seven Saudi men convicted of theft have been beheaded, more than a week after rights group appealed to the king for clemency.

Three executions in Japan since Shinzo Abe’s appointment

Japan has carried out three executions since its new prime minister was elected – a sign Tokyo will defy pressure to abolish executions.

Zimbabwe finds new hangman, Amnesty fears new executions

Amnesty International says it fears Zimbabwe will resume executions after prison officials were quoted saying they have found a new hangman.

SA woman jailed in China unaware of impending execution

A South African woman who is due to be executed by China for drug smuggling is apparently unaware of her fate, as is the practice of the state.

The tale of the accidental hangman

As a teenager, Babul Miah was sent to prison for a murder he says he never committed but the promise of an early release turned him into a hangman.

China is globe’s most prolific executioner

China, Iran, North Korea, Yemen and the United States carried out the most executions last year.

47 executions in three weeks

Iran has hanged almost 50 people during the past three weeks, according to human rights groups.

China the world’s top executioner, says rights group

A human rights group said on Wednesday that China retained its position as the world’s top executioner in 2008.

Sudan to execute four Islamists for killing US envoy

A Khartoum court condemned four Islamists to death on Wednesday for the 2008 killing of a US diplomat and his Sudanese driver.

Sentencing looms in US soldier’s courts-martial

A US Army master sergeant convicted of murder in the 2007 killings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqis will be sentenced on Thursday.

Kenya denies accusations of police executions

Kenyan police are a law unto themselves and often execute criminal suspects and other individuals with impunity, a UN expert said on Wednesday.

Texas execution plan defies Hague order

Officials in Texas have defied the International Court of Justice to affirm the scheduled execution on Tuesday of a Mexican national.

Italian dummy saved from electric chair

The management at an Italian funfair has withdrawn an attraction allowing visitors to watch a dummy suffer a grisly execution in an electric chair.

Crime, purgatory, punishment

Several productions at this year’s National Arts Festival explore the dramatic potential of the time-space between crime and punishment.

It’s all in the execution

Predictably, half of our most popular stories in the past week were about the hanging of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.