According to the NGO's annual report released on Wednesday, the number of executions fell by 31% in 2018 compared to 2017.
Amnesty International has recorded 690 executions in 2018, the lowest in a decade, despite rising in several countries including the United States and Japan, according to its global report on the death penalty released Wednesday. The organization said, however, that this figure does not include executions in China, where figures are classified as state secrets. "It is thought that executions are counted in the thousands," says the NGO.
Today we publish our annual report on the death penalty.
After years of increasing the death penalty, the number of executions is finally falling all over the world. https://t.co/VKEakdcbj3
A decrease of 31%. "The drop in the number of executions worldwide", which fell by 31% compared to the previous year, "proves that even the seemingly restive countries are beginning a change and realize that the death penalty is not the solution, "said Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of Amnesty International. "This gives hope that it is only a matter of time before this cruel and archaic punishment is relegated to the past," he added.
Strong decline in Iran . The NGO explains this decrease mainly through the changes made to the anti-narcotics law in Iran, where the number of executions has dropped by 50%, and by the "decrease in figures in some of the countries responsible for executions ", mainly in Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia. Behind China, the countries with the largest use of executions are Iran (253), Saudi Arabia (149), Vietnam (85) and Iraq (52). These last four countries together account for nearly four-fifths (78%) of the executions recorded worldwide.
More executions in the United States. Despite an overall decline, the number of executions has increased in several countries, including the United States (25), Japan (15), Singapore (13), South Sudan (7) and Belarus (4). Thailand, however, has returned to executions, where they have not been used since 2009. A total of 20 countries carried out executions in 2018, by beheading (Saudi Arabia), electrocution (United States), hanging ( Afghanistan, Japan, Singapore), lethal injection (China, United States, Thailand) or firearm (North Korea, Yemen).
Amnesty International also recorded 2,531 death sentences (China not included) last year - up from 2,591 in 2017 - bringing the death toll to 19,336. The NGO said it was "concerned by the sharp rise in the number of such convictions in some countries. They have thus been multiplied by four in Iraq (271 death sentences in 2018), and increased by 75% in Egypt (717).
"A global consensus is being formed". Despite these figures, the organization believes that the death penalty is "steadily declining" in the world, giving several examples of measures taken to put an end to this punishment. Burkina Faso has adopted a new penal code excluding the death penalty, while The Gambia and Malaysia have declared an official moratorium on executions. In the United States, the death penalty law in Washington State has been declared unconstitutional. "The other countries concerned must now follow the same path," said Kumi Naidoo. "Slowly but surely, a global consensus is emerging to eliminate the use of the death penalty," he said. According to Amnesty International, by the end of 2018, 106 countries, more than half of the world's states, had abolished the death penalty, and 142 of them were abolitionist in law or in practice. Amnesty International has also documented eight cases of convicted prisoners sentenced to death in the past year, including two in the United States and one in Egypt.