Amnesty: fewer executions in the world

the Number of executions fell by 2018 with 31 per cent compared with the year before – from at least 993 executions 2017 to at least 690 in 2018, according to a new report from the human rights organization Amnesty International.

the number of executed death sentences, compared with 2017. The decrease is largely due to the changing laws of the country which means that fewer offences leading to the death penalty. Even in countries such as Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia declined, the number of enforced death penalty significantly.

" It is very gratifying to note the lowest figures in ten years. A large part of it depends on the change of legislation in Iran, which, however, still is the country that executes the most people in the world, after China, says Ami Hedenborg, spokesperson for Amnesty International in Sweden.

But in several other countries are moving in the opposite direction. In Belarus, Japan, Singapore, south Sudan, and the united states increased the number of enforced death penalty in 2018. In Thailand carried out the first execution in almost ten years. And in Sri Lanka, the authorities have announced that executions will resume, which means the end of a 43-year moratorium.

human rights there are parallel tracks. That the number of executions in the united states are increasing, albeit marginally, play a large role, as many other countries that use the death penalty, referring to the united states, " says Hedenborg.

The report warns Amnesty International for the sharp increase of the issued death sentences in several countries. In Iraq, the increased imposition of the death penalty four times over the past year, compared with 2017. Similarly, there was a dramatic increase in Egypt.

– It is also important to look at how the death penalty is used, since many countries violating international law. It is, for example, that the countries awarding death penalty after confessions by means of torture, and that countries have a mandatory death penalty for certain crimes, " says Hedenborg.

" It is positive that it will go down well in countries such as Iran, Iraq and Pakistan. But of course it is very worrying that the death penalty is still used so much. It is also a lot about the use that we do not know, in countries like China and north Korea.