We attach the latest monthly death penalty report for August/September thanks to group member Lesley for compiling the information. Note that there China doesn’t feature (except for one small item) as information about executions is a state secret. It is believed thousands are executed.
Death penalty report: April – May 21
We attach the death penalty report for April – May 2021. Note the report does not include China which is believed to execute thousands of its citizens but the statistics for which are a state secret.
Amnesty’s death penalty report: 2020
This is an extract from Amnesty’s annual death penalty report for 2020 which, overall, is good news with a decline in the use of the penalty around the world. It excludes China which executes thousands of its citizens but does not publish figures which are a state secret.
Once again the number of known executions has fallen (by 26%) and at 483 is now at its lowest for 10 years. The number of known death sentences imposed has also fallen. Much of the fall in execution numbers has been driven by significant reductions in Saudi Arabia (down 84%) and Iraq (down over 50%). However, these falls have been offset by a tripling of executions in Egypt to at least 107.
The five countries that executed the most people are China (1,000s), Iran (at least 246), Egypt (at least 107), Iraq (at least 45) and Saudi Arabia (27). In the USA the picture is mixed with state executions significantly down but this was negated by a surge in federal executions ordered by the outgoing Trump administration. The USA remains the only country in the Americas to execute people.
The number of known death sentences handed down has also fallen from 2,307 to 1,477 although some of this reduction appears to be due to delays in proceedings in response to the pandemic.
18 countries are known to have carried out executions in 2020, a reduction of 2 since 2019. Chad and the US state of Colorado abolished the death penalty and Kazakhstan committed to its abolition. On the other hand executions were resumed in India, Qatar, Oman and Taiwan.
Some of the more disturbing trends in 2020 included the following:
- The Trump administration executed 10 people at the federal level in less than six months
- China used the death penalty to crack down on offences related to Covid-19 prevention efforts
- In some countries, including the USA, defence lawyers said that they had been unable to meet clients face to face because of Covid restrictions.
Asia-Pacific countries were notable for imposing death sentences for crimes not involving intentional killing, which is in violation of international law. This included drug offences in China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam, corruption in China and Viet Nam and for blasphemy in Pakistan. In the Maldives five people under the age of 18 at the time of their offences remain under sentence of death.
Nevertheless the trend remains positive. 144 countries have now abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. 123 countries supported the UN General Assembly’s call for a moratorium on executions. In the USA the state of Virginia recently became the first southern state to abolish the death penalty and several bills to abolish it at federal level are pending before Congress.
Amnesty continues to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and will continue to campaign until the death penalty is abolished everywhere for good.
Death penalty report
We attach the latest death penalty report thanks to group member Lesley for the work in assembling it.
CAAT award
Campaign Against the Arms Trade nominated for the Nobel peace Prize
We are delighted to report this news today (19 February 2021). We have often featured CAAT in our posts especially concerning the UK arms industry’s supply of weapons to Saudi Arabia. These weapons have been used to cause immense harm and destruction in Yemen. The Saudi air force has bombed markets, schools, hospitals, clinics and wedding ceremonies killing many thousands of people and wounding many more. UK personnel are ‘advising’ the Saudis, ostensibly to help them observe international human rights standards. They carefully stop short of actually attaching the weapons as this would make them mercenaries.
The UK government was stopped from granting licenses but they have resumed.
The link shows how this award will help CAAT in their work.
Death penalty report: Jan-Feb
The latest monthly death penalty report is attached with thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it.
Good news from Saudi
Loujain al-Hathloul released today
It is good to report that the Loujain al-Hathloul was released from prison in Saudi today (10 February 2021). Amnesty and other human rights groups have campaigned on her behalf for some time following her arrest, imprisonment, including time spent in solitary confinement. She alleges being tortured in prison which included the use of electric shocks, flogging as well as being sexually assaulted. These allegations are entirely believable since torture is routinely practised in the kingdom.
Loujain was one of the campaigners arguing for allowing women to drive, which they now can do, but this did not absolve her from arrest. Her sentence has been suspended and she is not allowed to talk about her time in prison or to leave Saudi. If she does so, she faces being rearrested.
Two events might have combined to achieve this result. A concerted campaign by human rights campaign groups to secure her release has led to continuous bad publicity for the kingdom and for Mohammed bin Salman. The arrival of President Joe Biden who is noticeably cooler towards the kingdom and has already suspended arms sales is likely to have been a factor. However, Grant Liberty is among those arguing that pressure must continue to secure other releases of people held in prisons after spurious trials. They point out that the country still carries out arbitrary arrests; people are tortured; there are many executions; children are treated as adults by the courts; women’s rights are ignored; there is no free speech and human rights organisations are banned in the country.
Sources: Grant Liberty, al Jazeera, the Guardian
Temporary halt to Saudi arms sales
President temporarily halts arms sales to Saudi Arabia
It’s only temporary, but it may be a start. It is being cast as part of the normal review of sales which a new president undertakes upon taking office but let us hope that it becomes permanent. The scale of destruction in Yemen continues apace so anything which acts to reduce it must be welcomed.
Sources: HRW; The Hill
