Nooses hang at Pul-e-Charkhi prison on the outskirts of Kabul, Afganistan (AFP Photo/WAKIL KOHSAR) |
Executions fell worldwide by nearly a third last year to their lowest levels in at least a decade, but several countries recorded a rise, Amnesty International said Wednesday.
Use of the
death penalty dropped in Iran -- by an eye-popping 50 percent, following a
change to its anti-narcotics laws -- Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia, the rights
group found in its annual review.
But it rose
in Belarus, Japan, Singapore, South Sudan and the United States, while Thailand
resumed executions for the first time in a decade and Sri Lanka threatened to
follow suit.
"Despite
regressive steps from some, the number of executions carried out by several of
the worst perpetrators has fallen significantly," said Kumi Naidoo,
Amnesty International's Secretary General.
He added the
"dramatic" drop globally proved that "even the most unlikely
countries are starting to change their ways and realise the death penalty is
not the answer".
"This
is a hopeful indication that it's only a matter of time before this cruel
punishment is consigned to history, where it belongs," Naidoo said.
In total,
death penalty figures fell around the world from at least 993 in 2017, to at
least 690 last year.
Amnesty's
count excludes China -- the world's top executioner -- where the numbers are
classified as a state secret.
The
organisation estimates thousands of people are sentenced to death and executed
there every year.
Graphic on
executions worldwide, according to a 2018 report by Amnesty
International (AFP
Photo/Gal ROMA)
|
Iran (253),
Saudi Arabia (149), Vietnam (at least 85) and Iraq (at least 52) were the other
countries that resorted to the death penalty most in 2018.
Vietnamese
authorities' decision to release figures for last year was
"unprecedented" for the southeast Asian nation, Amnesty noted.
Elsewhere
Japan, Singapore and South Sudan reported their highest levels of executions in
years.
Naidoo said
these three countries "now form a dwindling minority" and challenged
them "to act boldly and put a stop to this abhorrent punishment".
Amnesty
also noted concern over a sharp spike in the number of death sentences imposed
in some countries -- particularly Iraq and Egypt -- over the course of 2018.
But its
annual review found the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty had
gathered steam.
Burkina
Faso adopted a new penal code effectively banning executions, while Gambia and
Malaysia both declared an official moratorium.
Meanwhile,
courts in the US state of Washington declared the death penalty
unconstitutional there.
Amnesty
highlighted a December vote by the United Nations General Assembly that saw 121
countries support a global moratorium on the death penalty, with only 35 states
opposed.
"Slowly
but steadily, global consensus is building towards ending the use of the death
penalty," Naidoo said.
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