AI warns that the death penalty reaches its highest level in the last five years
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The organization assures that the figure is an incomplete indicator, since the exact number of people executed in China.
With a total of 883 executions registered in the world in 2022, a record number since 2017, the organization Amnesty International denounced in its annual report on the death penalty, a “wave of murders” in some countries.
“Recorded executions in 2022 reached the highest number in five years due to bloodbaths carried out by the most notorious executioners in the Middle East and North Africa,” he told the NGO.
According to published data, this increase in executions, which does not include the thousands believed to have been carried out in China last year, was led by countries in the Middle East and North Africa, where documented numbers rose from 520 in 2021 to 825 in 2022.
What do Kazakhstan, Sierra Leone, Papua New Guinea and Central African Republic all have in common?
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) May 16, 2023
By 2022, they abolished the death penalty , joining the global majority 🙌
It’s time for others to do the same and make the #deathpenalty a thing of the past. pic.twitter.com/hXsKxiJqkN
“Countries in the Middle East and North Africa region violated international law by increasing executions in 2022, revealing a callous disregard for human life. The number of people deprived of their lives increased dramatically throughout the region; Saudi Arabia executed a staggering 81 people in a single day. More recently, in a desperate attempt to put down the popular uprising, Iran executed people just for exercising their right to protest,” said Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
The alarming thing is that 90% of the known executions in the world outside of China were carried out by only 3 countries in the region. Recorded executions in Iran increased from 314 in 2021 to 576 in 2022; in Saudi Arabia, the numbers tripled, from 65 in 2021 to 196 in 2022, the highest recorded by Amnesty in 30 years, while Egypt executed 24 people.
The use of the death penalty remained shrouded in secrecy in several countries, including China, North Korea and Vietnam, which means, according to the organization, that the true global figure is much higher. Although the precise number of people executed in China is unknown, it is clear that the country remained the world's leading executioner, ahead of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United States.
“In a cruel irony, nearly 40% of all known executions were for drug offences. What's worse: this cruel punishment often disproportionately affects people from disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Agnes Callamard.
“It is time for governments and the UN to increase pressure on those responsible for these flagrant violations of human rights and guarantee the establishment of international safeguards,” he insisted.
Despite the gray outlook, the report highlights “a ray of hope”: six countries totally or partially abolished the death penalty in 2022.
Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, and the Central African Republic abolished it for all crimes, while Equatorial Guinea and Zambia abolished it only for common law crimes.