Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia most 'prolific' executioners

Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia most 'prolific' executioners
A review by Amnesty International of the use of the death penalty lists China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the US as the 'top five' users of capital punishment.
3 min read
01 April, 2015
Executions were recorded in 22 countries in 2014 [AFP]

An alarming number of countries used the death penalty to tackle real or perceived threats to state security linked to terrorism, crime or internal instability in 2014, London based rights group Amnesty International reports in its annual review of the death penalty worldwide

The number of death sentences recorded in 2014 jumped by almost 500 compared to 2013, mainly because of sharp spikes in Egypt and Nigeria, including mass sentencing in both countries in the context of internal conflict and political instability.  

China again carried out more executions than the rest of the world put together. Amnesty International believes thousands are executed and sentenced to death there every year, but with numbers kept a state secret the true figure is impossible to determine. 

'Top executioners'

The other countries making up the world’s top five executioners in 2014 were Iran (289 officially announced and at least 454 more that were not acknowledged by the authorities), Saudi Arabia (at least 90), Iraq (at least 61) and the USA (35). 

Excluding China, at least 607 executions were known to have been carried out in 2014, compared to 778 in 2013, a drop of more than 20 per cent.

Executions were recorded in 22 countries in 2014, the same number as the year before. This is a significant decrease from 20 years ago in 1995, when Amnesty International recorded executions in 42 countries, highlighting the clear global trend of states moving away from the death penalty.

"Governments using the death penalty to tackle crime are deluding themselves. There is no evidence that shows the threat of execution is more of a deterrent to crime than any other punishment,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. 

“....It is shameful that so many states around the world are essentially playing with people’s lives – putting people to death for ‘terrorism’ or to quell internal instability on the ill-conceived premise of deterrence,”  said Shetty.

Middle East

Amnesty International descibed the widespread use of the death penalty in the Middle East and North as 'extremely troubling'.  

According to Amnesty, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia accounted for 90 per cent of all recorded executions in the region, and 72 per cent of all recorded executions globally (excluding China). 

In 2014 executions were recorded in eight countries, two more than in 2013. Sixteen countries imposed death sentences – a large majority of countries in the region.

The overall number of executions recorded in the region dropped from 638 in 2013 to 491 last year.

These figures do not include hundreds of executions that are known to have occurred in Iran but which were not officially announced.

In 2014 the Iranian authorities acknowledged 289 executions, however reliable sources reported another 454 executions – bringing the total to 743.

'Terrorism'

Amnesty also highlighted the trend of states using the death penalty to combat threats against state security, with China, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq all executing people accused of “terrorism”.

Pakistan resumed executions in the wake of the horrific Taliban attack on a Peshawar school.

Seven people were executed in December, and the government has said it will put hundreds more convicted on “terrorism”-related charges to death. Executions continued at a high rate in 2015.