"China, as the world's leading executioner, is awarded a 'gold medal' for mass executions," said Kate Allen, head of Amnesty International's UK office. Nearly 90% of all executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United States.
In 2007, 470 people were executed in China, but this figure is not considered final. Information on the number of death sentences in the country is classified as a state secret. The US-based human rights organization Dui Hua Foundation believes that about 6,000 people were executed in China last year. Amnesty International believes this figure could be as high as 8,000.
"According to reliable sources, an average of 22 prisoners are sent to death every day in China," notes Kate Allen. She estimates that 374 people will be executed during the Beijing Summer Olympics.
If official Chinese government information is to be believed, the number of executions in the country has nearly halved (in 2006, official sources confirmed the deaths of 1,010 people). This is due to a change in the sentencing system – recently, only China's Supreme Court has the right to impose the highest penalty. In the first five months of 2007, the number of such verdicts decreased by 10%.
The list of crimes for which the highest penalty can be imposed in China includes nearly 60 items, including tax evasion, damage to electrical wiring, sale of counterfeit medicines, bribery, and drug trafficking.
The lack of access to reliable information about executions is considered by Amnesty International to be a major problem for China, as well as Mongolia and Vietnam. "Members of many governments say that executions enjoy public support. That is why people should know what is being done in their name," the organization's official statement emphasizes.
In 2007, the number of executions increased significantly in the countries of the Middle East. In Iran, 317 sentences were carried out last year (compared to 177 in 2006), in Saudi Arabia, 143 people were legally executed (compared to 39 in 2006). Iranian official Alireza Jamshidi recently stated that the number of executions in the country is small. Hanging is the most common method of execution in Iran and Pakistan, but traditional forms of execution, such as stoning to death, are also widespread.
The number of executions in the United States declined. 42 executions in 2007 is the lowest figure in 15 years. The death penalty is used in 38 states, and in 37 of them, lethal injection is the most common method. Human rights activists note that in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, teenagers under 18 are also sentenced to death, which contradicts international norms. In 2007, three teenagers were executed in Iran who had been sentenced to death when they were between 13 and 16 years old.
In December last year, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on a moratorium on the death penalty. This step, as Amnesty International notes, was a major breakthrough in the global abolition of death sentences. According to the UN, 130 countries around the world have abolished the death penalty or imposed a moratorium on it, while executions continue in 51 countries and are often public in nature.
Polina KHIMSHIASHVILI.