A report for Amnesty International (AI) reveals that in 2005 alone, over 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries. However, the trend towards abolition continues to grow. Sahar El-Bahr reviews the report During 2005, at least 2,148 prisoners were executed in 22 countries and 5,186 people were sentenced to death in 53 countries. The figures AI have are approximate because many governments refuse to publish full official statistics on executions. Ninety- four per cent of all known executions took place in the United States, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. "As the world continues to turn away from the use of the death penalty, it is a glaring anomaly that China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the US stand out for their use of extreme forms of punishment as the 'top' executioners in the world," stated Irene Khan, Amnesty International (AI) secretary-general. Based on public reports, Amnesty International estimated that at least 1,770 people were executed in China during 2005, although the true figures were believed to be much higher. A Chinese legal expert was quoted as stating the figure for executions at approximately 8,000 based on information from local officials and judges, although official national statistics remain classified. Meanwhile, Iran executed at least 94 people and Saudi Arabia executed at least 86, but the totals may have been much higher. As for the death penalty in the US, 60 prisoners were executed in 2005, bringing the total number executed since the use of the death penalty was resumed in 1977 to 1,004. Around 3,400 prisoners were under sentence of death as of 1 January 2006. Notably, 38 of the 50 US states provide for the death penalty in law. The death penalty is also provided under US military and federal law. There are more than 20,000 people on death row waiting to be executed. Since 1985, over 50 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or, having previously abolished it for ordinary crimes, have gone on to abolish it for all crimes. During the same period only four abolitionist countries reintroduced the death penalty. One of them, Nepal, has since abolished the death penalty again; one, the Philippines, resumed executions, but later stopped. There have been no executions in the other two (Gambia and Papua New Guinea). Methods of execution vary from one country to another: beheading in Saudi Arabia and Iraq; electrocution in the US; hanging in Egypt, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Singapore and other countries; lethal injection in China, Guatemala, Philippines, Thailand and the US; shooting in Belarus, China, Somalia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and other countries; and stoning in Afghanistan and Iran. However, despite the shocking figures, the trend towards abolition continues to grow. According to the AI report, the number of countries carrying out executions has dropped for a fourth consecutive year; over the last 20 years, numbers have halved. AI's latest information shows that 86 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, 11 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as war crimes, and 25 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more, making a total of 122 countries which have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Seventy-four other countries retain and use the death penalty, but the number of countries which actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller. Over 40 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes since 1990. They include countries in Africa (recent examples include Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia,), the Americas (Canada, Mexico, Paraguay), Asia and the Pacific (Bhutan, Samoa, Turkmenistan) and Europe and the South Caucasus (Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey). The report also traces the use of the death penalty against child offenders. International human rights treaties and conventions prohibit anyone under 18 years old at the time of the crime being sentenced to death. More than 110 countries whose laws still provide for the death penalty for at least some offences have laws specifically excluding the execution of child offenders or may be presumed to exclude such executions by being party to one or another of the above treaties. The AI report reveals that eight countries since 1990 are known to have executed prisoners who were under 18 years old at the time of the crime -- China, Congo (Democratic Republic of), Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the US and Yemen. China, Pakistan and Yemen have risen the minimum age to 18 in law. The US executed more child offenders than any other country (19 between 1990 and 2003) before the US Supreme Court ruled in March 2005 that the execution of children under the age of 18 was unconstitutional. The report states that as long as the death penalty is maintained, the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated. Since 1973, 122 US prisoners have been released from death row after evidence emerged of their innocence of the crimes for which they were sentenced to death. Some prisoners had come close to execution after spending many years under sentence of death. Recurring features in their cases include prosecutorial or police misconduct; the use of unreliable witness testimony, physical evidence, or confessions; and inadequate defense representation. Other US prisoners have gone to their deaths despite serious doubts over their guilt. The report concludes that the death penalty is the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights. It is often applied in a discriminatory manner, follows unfair trials or is applied for political reasons. It can be an irreversible error when there is miscarriage of justice. AI will continue to campaign until the death penalty is abolished worldwide.
