According to Amnesty, the number of countries carrying out executions is at its lowest level in history. But the number of executions is increasing, with one country accounting for almost three quarters of all cases.
According to Amnesty International, the number of judicial executions rose last year to at least 1,153, the highest number since 2015. Of the 16 countries that carry out executions, only a few are responsible for the extremely high increase in the number, criticizes the human rights organization in its report on the worldwide application of the death penalty.
Iran alone accounted for almost three-quarters of all registered executions (853) – an increase of 48 percent over the previous year. For 2022, Amnesty had registered a total of 883 executions in 20 countries.
In second place after Iran in Amnesty’s list for 2023 is Saudi Arabia with 172 executions (15 percent). Somalia (38 executions) and the USA (24) also carried out more death sentences last year, the report says. The number of new death sentences imposed worldwide rose by 20 percent to 2,428 in 2023 compared to the previous year.
According to the list, the number of countries in which executions were carried out fell to the lowest level the organization has ever recorded. In Belarus, Japan, Myanmar and South Sudan, which still carried out death sentences in 2022, no more executions were recorded in 2023. 144 countries have abolished the death penalty by law (112 countries) or in practice (32 countries).
Amnesty Secretary General: Worrying development
The Secretary General of Amnesty International in Germany, Julia Duchrow, welcomed the fact that more and more countries are abandoning the death penalty. However, she said it was very worrying that a few states were executing more and more people. In 2023, for example, the Iranian authorities had shown a gross disregard for human life.
Saudi Arabia, which prides itself on its reform efforts, sometimes passes death sentences for trivial acts such as posting anti-government social media posts. Amnesty International’s findings on key countries are as follows:
Iran
The authorities in Iran have increasingly used the death penalty to instill fear and terror in the population and consolidate their power. The number of executions has risen by 48 percent to at least 853 compared to 2022 (576). Executions have disproportionately often affected the ethnic minority of the Baloch – they account for 20 percent of the registered executions, although they only make up about five percent of the population.
More than 60 percent of the documented executions in Iran were carried out for crimes that should not be punished with the death penalty under international law, including mainly drug offenses.
Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, the number of death sentences carried out has fallen by twelve percent to 172. Six of them were women. The country is the only one that used the beheading method of execution in 2023. Death sentences are passed after unfair trials and “confessions” are extracted through torture. In July, Mohammad al-Ghamdi was sentenced to death for social media posts critical of the government.
USA
Amnesty General Secretary Duchrow said it was very worrying that some US states had committed to the death penalty and had even introduced “a new, cruel method of execution.” This trend is continuing: In January, Kenneth Smith was killed in the state of Alabama using the untested method of asphyxiation with nitrogen gas, “14 months after he survived a botched execution attempt.” Overall, the number of executions rose from 18 to 24 compared to the previous year. In the US states of Idaho and Tennessee, bills were also introduced that would allow executions by firing squad.
Somalia and Sub-Saharan Africa
In Somalia, Amnesty recorded a more than six-fold increase in the number of executions, from 6 in 2022 to 38 last year. In the sub-Saharan Africa region, the human rights organization registered a drastic increase in death sentences by 66 percent – from 298 cases in 2022 to 494 last year.
China
According to the report, Amnesty International believes that China continues to execute the most people in the world. Due to secrecy in the country, the report does not contain any information on the thousands of people who, according to Amnesty, have probably been executed in China.
For similar reasons, no figures can be provided for North Korea and Vietnam – although both countries are believed to execute people on a large scale, it continues. North Korea has introduced a new law that provides for the death penalty as a possible punishment for those who do not use Korean. Myanmar has continued to impose death sentences in military courts in secret and unfair proceedings.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
