Amnesty reports 'alarming' rise in death penalty

World executions reached their highest levels for almost ten years in 2004, Amnesty International has reported.

The human rights group said that at least 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries in 2004, while another 7,395 were sentenced to death in 64 countries.

However, only four countries accounted for almost all (97%) of the executions. China was responsible for most of the executions, with at least 3,400 people executed last year. Iran followed with at least 159 executions, while Vietnam had at least 64. The USA came fourth with 59 prisoners being executed in 2004.

Amnesty stressed that the figures for most of the countries represented the minimum of executions that could be confirmed.

However, Amnesty's report also found that abolition of the death penalty around the world is increasing. Five countries – Bhutan, Greece, Samoa, Senegal and Turkey – abolished the death penalty in 2004 and Amnesty reported that a total of 120 countries worldwide had now abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

Last month's decision by the US Supreme Court, which ruled that the use of the death penalty against offenders under the age of eighteen was unconstitutional, was welcomed by Amnesty International. The USA's decision has now meant that all countries have now formally rejected the application of the death penalty to child offenders. However, the group said that it was concerned that a few countries still continued to execute child offenders. Amnesty claimed that Iran had executed at least three child offenders in 2004.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen described the rise in executions as "alarming" and said that the figures in China were "genuinely frightening". She said: "These executions are believed to be only the tip of the iceberg, with many countries continuing to execute people in secret. The death penalty is cruel and unnecessary, does not deter crime and runs the risk of killing the wrongly convicted. It is time to consign the death penalty to the dustbin of history."

(KmcA)