Amnesty says global executions rose to highest level in 5 years
Human rights organization Amnesty International said Tuesday the number of judicial executions confirmed globally in 2022 rose to their highest level in five years, marking a 53 percent jump from the previous year, led by the Middle East and North Africa.
There were 883 known cases in 20 countries including one in Japan, its annual report said, compared to 993 cases in 2017 and 579 in 2021. But it noted that the global total is likely far higher in reality since it excluded “the thousands believed to have been carried out in China.”
Ninety percent of the executions outside of China occurred in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt last year, it said.
Saudi Arabia executed 196 people, which according to Amnesty International was the most in the country in 30 years, noting it executed 81 people in a single day.
In Iran, the number of executions rose to 576 from 314 in 2021. The organization’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said in a press release that Iranian government executed people for exercising the right to protest in “a desperate attempt to end the popular uprising” in the country.
Egypt carried out 24 capital punishments, which was a significant reduction from the 83 the previous year, it said.
As far as the Asia-Pacific region was concerned, 11 people were executed in Singapore, four in Bangladesh and one in Japan. The report did not give specific figures for North Korea along with countries including China and Vietnam due to insufficient information.
Myanmar, where the junta has held power since a 2021 coup, carried out four executions, the first in the country in 40 years.
Afghanistan also resumed executions, following the Taliban’s return to power following the toppling of the United States-backed government.
However, the human-rights group said there was a “glimmer of hope,” with Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic abolishing the death penalty across the board, while Equatorial Guinea and Zambia abolished it for ordinary crimes.
As of December 2022, 112 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes and nine countries had abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes only, Amnesty International said.
“As many countries continue to consign the death penalty to the dustbin of history, it’s time for others to follow suit,” Callamard said.
She called on countries like Iran and China to “urgently catch up with the times, protect human rights, and execute justice rather than people.”
