Option
World's highest number of judicial executions since 2017 In Saudi Arabia, 81 people were executed in just one day Executions are known from 20 countries Six countries have them Death penalty completely or partially abolished Executions in 2022 reached the highest level in five years, with a spate of executions in countries across the Middle East and North Africa, Amnesty International said today as the organization released its annual report on the death penalty. In some countries known for their widespread use of the death penalty, such as China, North Korea and Vietnam, the number of executions has remained secret, so the actual number of executions carried out worldwide is far higher. While the exact number of people executed in China is not known, there is no doubt that the country continues to carry out the most executions, ahead of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the US. A total of 883 executions from 20 countries were known, which means a sad increase of 53 percent compared to the previous year. Countries in the Middle East and North Africa account for the largest share of this huge increase, which does not even include the thousands of executions carried out in China over the past year. Here, the number of documented executions rose from 520 in 2021 to 825 in 2022. “Countries in the Middle East and North Africa have shown how little respect they have for human life. Across the region, the number of people whose lives have been taken has increased dramatically; in Saudi Arabia, a whopping 81 people were executed in just one day. And Iran, in a desperate attempt to end mass protests there, has executed people simply for exercising their right to protest,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's International Secretary-General.  90 percent of executions in three countries 90 percent of the world's documented executions outside of China were carried out by just three countries in the region: the number of recorded executions in Iran rose from 314 in 2021 to 576 in 2022; in Saudi Arabia, the number tripled from 65 in 2021 to 196 in 2022 – the highest number Amnesty has documented there in the last 30 years – and in Egypt 24 people were executed. The number of executions rose, while the number of death sentences passed remained the same In addition to Iran and Saudi Arabia, there was also an increase in the number of executions in the USA from 11 to 18. Death sentences were also carried out again last year in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Myanmar, the State of Palestine and Singapore. While the number of executions rose worldwide, the total number of death sentences passed remained almost the same, with a slight decrease from 2.052 in 2021 to 2.016 in 2022. Executions for drug crimes Also dramatic has been the increase in executions linked to drug-related offences, where the number has more than doubled. Executions for drug-related offenses are a violation of international human rights law, according to which executions may only be carried out for "the most serious crimes", i.e. crimes involving intentional homicide. Such executions have been recorded in countries such as China, Saudi Arabia (57), Iran (255) and Singapore (11) and account for 37 per cent of all executions recorded by Amnesty International worldwide. A glimmer of hope: more and more countries without the death penalty But even in this grim situation there was a faint glimmer of hope, as six countries abolished the death penalty in whole or in part in the past year: Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic abolished the death penalty for all crimes, in Equatorial Guinea and Zambia for common crimes only. At the end of last year, the death penalty had been abolished in 112 countries for all crimes and in a further nine countries for common crimes. Liberia and Ghana took legal action to abolish the death penalty last year, and the authorities in Sri Lanka and the Maldives announced that they would no longer carry out death sentences. Bills to abolish the mandatory death penalty have also been introduced in the Malaysian Parliament. “Now that many more countries are moving to relegate the death penalty to the dustbin of history, it is time for others to do the same. Countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, North Korea and Vietnam are now clearly in the minority with their brutal actions,” says Agnès Callamard. He continued: "With an unprecedented number of 125 UN member states calling for a moratorium on executions, Amnesty International is more confident than ever that this appalling sentence can and will be relegated to the annals of history. However, the tragic numbers of 2022 are a reminder that we cannot rest on our laurels. We will continue our campaign until the death penalty is abolished worldwide.” |
DOWNLOAD
Photo / Video: Amnesty.
