Global – Amnesty on death penalty: In 2022, executions increased by 53%.
The annual report on capital punishment shows that last year [2022] saw the highest number of victims in five years. Saudi Arabia and Iran are the countries with the highest number of executions. Six states have abolished the death penalty. Riccardo Noury, spokesperson for Amnesty Italia: "[A] year to forget, but hope comes from Africa, where only two countries have carried out executions".
In 2022, 883 executions of people sentenced to death were recorded worldwide, an increase of 53% over the previous year and the highest number of victims since 2017. Amnesty International denounced this in its annual report on the death penalty worldwide, published on Tuesday, May 16th.
DISQUIETING INCREASE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
The marked increase is mainly due to executions in Middle Eastern countries. It does not consider executions in China - where the practice is subject to state secrecy - which experts say could number at least a thousand. North Korea and Vietnam also do not disclose data on the phenomenon. Notably, nearly 90% of the executions recorded by Amnesty were carried out in just two countries, 576 in Iran (up from 314 in 2021) and 196 in Saudi Arabia (up from 65 the previous year). Also disquieting is the increase in cases in the United States, where the number of victims rose from 11 to 18. Another negative aspect of 2022 is the five countries where executions resumed: Afghanistan, Kuwait, Myanmar, Palestine and Singapore. While the number of death sentences handed down by the courts remained virtually unchanged in 2016, compared to 2052 in 2021.
144 STATES HAVE ABOLISHED THE DEATH PENALTY
In addition to highlighting the most recent trends, Amnesty International's report notes that the death penalty has been abolished in more than half of the world's nations: 112 states are fully abolitionist; 23 states are considered de facto abolitionist because they have not carried out death sentences for at least ten years or have made an international commitment not to use the death penalty; a further nine states have abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes. Therefore, 144 states have abolished the death penalty in law or practice; 55 countries retain the death penalty, but those carrying out death sentences account for one-third. Rarely seen and encouraging is that by 2022, as many as six countries will have fully or partially abolished the death penalty. For example, Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, while Equatorial Guinea and Zambia abolished it only for ordinary crimes.
PUNISHABLE OFFENCES
Amnesty also provides a snapshot of the range of offences punishable by the death penalty, noting that the crimes for which it is provided "are many and profoundly different from state to state". Most countries that retain the death penalty provide for murder, others for terrorism or crimes against the established order, and others for apostasy or religious offences. Some legal systems also give the cruellest punishment for ordinary crimes like drug trafficking. In 2022, the number of people sentenced to death for drug offences more than doubled compared to 2021.
Most countries that retain the death penalty are for murder, others for terrorism or crimes against the established order, and others for apostasy or religious offences.
NOURY (AMNESTY ITALY): 2022, A YEAR TO FORGET
Interviewed by Vatican News, Riccardo Noury, spokesman for Amnesty International Italy, defines 2022 as "a year to forget" and points out that the most alarming data come from the Middle East and, in particular, from Iran and Saudi Arabia - where there has been, among other things, repression of protests - "with a very precise characteristic, in these two countries the use of hanging as the only strategy against drug offences has been resumed". Noury then turns to China, from where "little information is coming in, some of it positive, such as greater guarantees on the Supreme Court's review of death sentences", but it is "news that cannot be verified while estimates continue to speak of thousands of executions".
HOPE COMES FROM AFRICA
The Amnesty Italia spokesperson also highlights the United States, "whose figures remain low compared to several years ago, but which last year saw an increase, with 18 executions". "In the United States, the death penalty can be monitored, but it remains an anomaly if we consider the group of developed and democratic countries; in fact, the only two G7 states where the death penalty is still in force are the United States and Japan. Finally, Noury dwells on the positive notes of the report: "Six countries have abolished the death penalty by 2022, and four of them are in sub-Saharan Africa, and as long as in sub-Saharan Africa there have only been executions in Somalia and South Sudan, that part of the world is slowly giving up the death penalty.
Source : mensaje.cl
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