Number of global executions last year announced

Baku. 11 April. REPORT.AZ/ "China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan believed to have executed more than other countries".

Report informs citing the BBC, Amnesty International declares.

According to the report, at least 567 people were executed last year in Iran, 154 in Saudi Arabia, 88 in Iraq and 87 in Pakistan.

The number of executions recorded worldwide in 2016 fell by 37% on the previous year, human rights group Amnesty International says. At least 1,032 people were executed last year, down from 1,634 in 2015, Amnesty said. According to the report, the fall was largely driven by fewer deaths recorded in Iran and Pakistan.

China is believed to have executed more than all countries combined but has not been included in the figures given the lack of reliable data, the group adds.

The US was removed from the top five for the first time since 2006, according to Amnesty.

In Europe and Central Asia, Belarus and Kazakhstan were the only two countries in the region to use the death penalty.

Belarus executed 22-year-old Rechitsy Sergey Ivanov in April 2016, for the first time after a 17-month hiatus.

Meanwhile, Belarus and State of Palestine resumed executions in 2016 after a year's hiatus, while Botswana and Nigeria carried out their first executions since 2013.

On the other hand, 104 countries were recorded to have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Back in 1997, that figure was 64.