ALMOST THREE quarters of the 2,400 people who were executed worldwide last year were put to death in China, according to a new report by Amnesty International.
In its overview on the death penalty, published today, Amnesty said that in 2008, at least 2,390 people were executed in 25 countries globally, while some 8,864 were sentenced to death.
Capital punishment was most prevalent in Asia, where 11 states use the death penalty, with China alone accounting for at least 1,718 executions – more than the rest of the world put together. However, Amnesty said that figure was believed to underestimate the true total, as statistics on death sentences and executions remain state secrets in China.
The report shows that some progress is being made towards the abolition of the death penalty, with only 25 out of the 59 countries that retain the death penalty reported to have used the measure in 2008.
But Amnesty insisted that progress was undermined by retrograde steps in a number of countries. In Liberia, for instance, the death penalty was introduced for the crimes of robbery, terrorism and hijacking, while St Kitts and Nevis carried out the first execution in the Americas outside the United States since 2003.
“The good news is that executions are only carried out by a small number of countries, which shows that we are moving closer to a death-penalty free world,” said Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International.
“By contrast, the bad news is that hundreds of people continue to be sentenced to death and suffer in the many countries that have not yet formally abolished the death penalty.”
Amnesty also drew attention to countries that it said handed down death sentences after unfair trials, including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, and claimed a disproportionate number of sentences were handed down to members of disadvantaged and minority communities in countries such as Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and the US.
Belarus, the only country in Europe to retain the death penalty, carried out four executions in 2008, Amnesty said, while 37 people were executed in the United States.
Last week the governor of New Mexico signed into law a Bill abolishing the death penalty in that state, making it the 15th abolitionist state in the country.
