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Berlin (dpa) - The number of documented executions worldwide fell by more than a quarter to the lowest level since the statistics began in 2007.
According to the annual figures of the human rights organization Amnesty International, the death penalty was carried out at least 483 times in 18 countries - 26 percent less than in 2019. The number of death sentences recorded fell by more than a third (36 percent) to 1,477 in 54 countries.
China is not included in the statistics because the executions there are kept secret and precise documentation is not possible.
Amnesty estimates the number of executions there at several thousand.
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But there was also a country in which the number of executions increased despite the corona pandemic: In Egypt, three times as many people were executed as in the previous year.
In addition, the Asian countries India and Taiwan as well as the Gulf states Qatar and Oman have resumed the execution of the death penalty.
The numbers range from one to four executions per country.
"Executing people in the midst of a global health crisis underlines the absurdity of the death penalty," said Amnesty Germany's Secretary General, Markus Beeko.
Four countries combined were responsible for 88 percent of the recorded executions: Iran (at least 246), Egypt (at least 107), Iraq (at least 45) and Saudi Arabia (at least 27).
However, there was a sharp decline in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
In its current report, Amnesty is particularly concerned about the largest North African country, Egypt.
At least 23 people were sentenced to death in connection with political violence.
Some death sentences were based on forced "confessions" or were given despite other serious injuries, including torture and enforced disappearance.
Egypt is Germany's strategic partner and was the second largest recipient of German armaments last year.
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Other key findings from the report:
- In the ASIA-PACIFIC REGION, the death penalty has been imposed for crimes unrelated to willful homicide.
In China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, for example, this applied to drug offenses.
- Unlike in the previous year, no executions were registered in BAHRAIN, BELARUS, JAPAN, PAKISTAN, SINGAPORE and SUDAN in 2020.
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- In individual countries, the execution of the death penalty was suspended because of the CORONA pandemic.
- In CHINA, however, at least one death sentence was imposed and carried out on someone accused of interfering with “measures to combat Covid-19”.
- In the USA, the then US administration under President Donald Trump started again in July 2020 after 17 years to carry out executions at the federal level.
Ten men were executed in just six months.
- Of the approximately 200 countries in the world, 108 have suspended the death penalty by law for all crimes and another 36 have suspended it.
"A world without the death penalty is getting closer," says Beeko.
In the meantime, 123 of the 193 member states of the United Nations supported the UN General Assembly's call for a moratorium on executions.
There are more countries than ever before.
"This increases the pressure on the countries that continue to adhere to the death penalty."
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210421-99-286301 / 2