More executions in 2015 than for 25 years

Baku. 6 April. REPORT.AZ/ A dramatic global rise in the number of executions recorded in 2015 saw more people put to death around the world than at any point in the last quarter-century.

Report informs citing the foreign media, this was said by Amnesty International today (6 April), as it published its annual review of the death penalty worldwide.

At least 1,634 people were executed in 2015, a rise of 54% on the year before and the highest number Amnesty has recorded since 1989. This total does not include China where thousands were likely to have been executed but where the death penalty is a state secret.

The figures - contained in a 70-page report Death Sentences and Executions in 2015 - show that the top five executioners in the world in 2015 were China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the USA. The surge in executions - which Amnesty described as “profoundly disturbing” - was largely fuelled by big increases in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

In Iran at least 977 people were executed in 2015 - compared to 743-plus in 2014 (up 31%) - the vast majority for drug-related crimes. Iran is also one of the world’s last executioners of child offenders, in violation of international law. Last year Iran executed at least four people who were under 18 at the time of the crime for which they were convicted.

Pakistan continued a killing spree it embarked on when it lifted a moratorium on civilian executions in December 2014. More than 320 people were sent to the gallows in 2015, the highest number Amnesty has ever recorded for Pakistan (at least five were reportedly child offenders). Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, executions rose by 76% on 2014’s figures, with at least 158 people executed last year. Most were beheaded, but firing squads were also used and executed bodies were sometimes displayed in public.