The development in Iran and Saudi Arabia is dramatic and gives particular cause for concern, notes Amnesty International in its annual report on the use of the death penalty in the world. Iran executed at least 576 people sentenced to death last year, an increase of a whopping 83 percent from the previous year. Around half of those executed were sentenced to death for murder, and almost as many for drug-related offences. 18 Iranians were also executed after being found guilty of blasphemy, and five of those executed were minors when they committed crimes for which they were sentenced to death before. – The Iranian authorities continue to use the death penalty as a vehicle for political repression and execute a disproportionate number of members of ethnic minorities as part of the long-term discrimination against these groups, Amnesty states in the report. Iran uses the death penalty in an open attempt to intimidate the population into silence, believes Secretary General John Peder Egenæs of Amnesty International in Norway. Here, the country’s president Ebrahim Raisi is present during a military parade in April this year. Photo: Vahid Salemi / AP Beheading Saudi Arabia executed 196 people sentenced to death by beheading last year, and this was more than three times as many as the previous year. It was also the highest number of executions in the country in over 30 years. 81 death row inmates were executed on one and the same day in March last year in the kingdom. According to state media, most of them had “followed in the footsteps of Satan” and were found guilty of links to the further Islamist group IS, Al Qaeda or the Houthi rebels in Yemen. – The wave of executions in Iran and Saudi Arabia can only be described as complete contempt for human life and international law, says Secretary General John Peder Egenæs in the Norwegian branch of Amnesty International. – Saudi Arabia executed a staggering 81 people in one day. The ruling authorities in Iran used the death penalty in an open attempt to intimidate the population into silence, in light of the extensive protests that began in September, he says. Saudi Arabia, here represented by Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, executed last year 196 people sentenced to death by beheading, 81 of them. and same day. Photo: Raad Adayleh / AP The leading executioner in the world Amnesty’s report does not reveal how many were executed in China last year. The governing authorities in Beijing refuse to share such information with the outside world, but Amnesty estimates that there were several thousand in question. – China is the leading executioner in the world, but continues to talk about secret death sentences, notes the human rights organisation. China is portrayed by Amnesty International as the world’s leading executioner and last year probably executed several thousand death row inmates. The authorities still refuse to state how many they execute. The country’s foreign minister Qin Gang visited Norway earlier this month. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Held spoke secretly North Korea and Vietnam also refuse to disclose how many were executed last year, but according to Amnesty there were at least 1,200 death row inmates in Vietnam last year. How many there are in North Korea is unknown. The military coup plotters in Myanmar executed four people sentenced to death last year, two of them high-profile politicians. These were the first executions in the country in over 40 years. Egypt, where the former coup plotter Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rules, executed 24 death row inmates. A total of 538 death sentences were handed down in Egypt last year. Happy in Africa In Africa south of the Sahara, there were only two countries that executed death sentences in 2022, Somalia that executed six and South Sudan that executed five. In the region, in one instance, the number of executions increased by 67 per cent from the previous year. In the USA, 18 death row inmates were executed in six states last year, an increase from the previous year when eleven were executed. There are still far fewer than in the late 1990s, when up to 100 were executed annually. Death sentences were still handed down in twelve states, and this was a doubling from the previous year. Neither South America, Central America nor the Caribbean carried out executions in the past year, and in Europe and Central Asia Belarus was the only one to carry out an execution last year. Russia and Tajikistan have introduced a temporary suspension of executions. Neither country has death row inmates. Drug offenses Almost 40 per cent of all executions in the world last year were for drug-related offences. This is more than a doubling from the previous year. – The death penalty for the possession, sale or transport of drugs is contrary to international law, which only allows for the death penalty for crimes involving intentional murder, states Amnesty International. – It is extra frightening that almost 40 per cent of all known executions are for drug-related offences. It clearly shows that the death penalty is primarily a means that is used against the disadvantaged, those who have already been pushed out of society, says Egenæs. The wave of executions in Iran and Saudi Arabia last year can only be described as complete contempt for human life and international law, says Secretary General John Peder Egenæs of the Norwegian branch of Amnesty International. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB Bright spot Although the numbers are bleak, and the hidden numbers are probably even bleaker, there is also a bright spot when it comes to the use of the death penalty in the world. 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, while Equatorial Guinea and Zambia abolished it in civil criminal law and retained it in military criminal law. Liberia and Ghana have initiated legislative work to remove the death penalty from the penal code, and other countries are also moving in the right direction, Amnesty believes. Sri Lanka’s newly elected president Ranil Wickremesinghe has announced that he will not allow executions during his government, and the Maldives has adopted a moratorium on executions. In Malaysia, where the courts are required to impose the death penalty for a number of offences, a bill is now being put forward to change this. Does not follow Almost three out of four countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, while 55 countries still practice the death penalty. – As many as 125 countries in the UN General Assembly voted in 2022 for a resolution that demands that all countries immediately stop carrying out executions with the aim of abolishing the death penalty, Egenæs points out. The 20 countries that executed death row last year stand out and simply do not keep up with the times, he believes. – The fight against the death penalty is a fight we are winning, step by step. But the waves of executions in Iran and Saudi Arabia, and in addition the probably several thousand executions in China in 2022, remind us that we cannot rest on our laurels, says Egenæs.
ttn-69
Strong increase in the number of executions last year – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
