The AI report, Death Sentences and Executions 2012, is at the link; a news release is also available.
The New York Times reports, "Amnesty International Reports on Death Penalty Trends," by Rick Gladstone.
At least four countries that had not used the death penalty in some time
— India, Japan, Pakistan and Gambia — resumed doing so last year, the
rights organization Amnesty International says in its annual compilation of capital punishment trends.
Amnesty, the London-based group that has made abolition of the death
penalty one of its signature causes, also says the number of executions
in Iraq nearly doubled in 2012 compared with a year earlier, which it
characterized as “an alarming escalation.”
Nonetheless, its yearly review, released early Wednesday in London, said the overall shift away from death sentences and executions continued in 2012.
“In many parts of the world, executions are becoming a thing of the
past, ” Salil Shetty, secretary general of the organization, said in a
statement. Amnesty said only 21 countries were recorded as having
carried out executions in 2012, the same as in 2011, but down from 28
countries a decade earlier.
"Amnesty: Progress in ending global death penalty," is the AP filing, via the Boston Herald.
Iraq executed almost twice as many people last year compared to the
year before, while India and Pakistan resumed executions after
abandoning the practice for years, global human rights group Amnesty
International said Tuesday.
China still led the top five countries
carrying out executions, the organization said, followed by Iran, Iraq,
Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Despite setbacks in several
countries, the group said it was encouraged by overall signs of progress
in the global trend toward ending the death penalty. In the U.S., nine
states carried out executions in 2012, compared to 13 in the previous
year.
"The 2012 figures on the use of the death penalty confirm that the
overall trend globally is towards abolition: Only one in 10 countries
worldwide carried out death sentences," the report said.
"Report: China, U.S. in top 5 for executions worldwide," is by Laura Smith-Spark at CNN.
China, the United States and three Middle Eastern nations carried out
the most executions last year, rights group Amnesty International said
Wednesday, but a global trend toward ending the death penalty persisted.
There were at least 682 confirmed executions worldwide last year, two more than in 2011, according to the group.
China is believed to have
executed several thousand people last year, Amnesty said, but
government secrecy makes it impossible to confirm exact numbers.
"The lack of reliable
data does not allow Amnesty International to publish credible figures
for the use of the death penalty in the country," the rights group said.
"However, available information strongly indicates that China carries
out more executions than the rest of the world put together."
Iran carried out at least
314 executions last year, Iraq at least 129 and Saudi Arabia at least
79. In the United States, 43 people were executed across nine states.
Sixth on the list was Yemen, with at least 28 executions.
And:
According to the 60-page
report, "Death Sentences and Executions in 2012," there were at least
1,722 newly-imposed death sentences in 58 countries last year, compared
with 1,923 in 63 countries in 2011.
This meant that at least 23,386 people were under sentence of death worldwide at the end of 2012, it said.
AFP posts, "Execution-free world getting closer: Amnesty."
A total of 21 countries were recorded as carrying out executions in
2012 -- the same number as in 2011, but a sharp drop from 28 countries
in 2003.
In 2012, at least 682 executions were known to have been
carried out worldwide, two more than in 2011. At least 1,722 newly
imposed death sentences in 58 countries could be confirmed, compared to
1,923 in 63 countries the year before.
But Amnesty stressed that
its figures do not include the thousands of executions that it believes
were carried out in China, where details are shrouded in secrecy.
And:
The United States remains the only country in the Americas to carry out
executions -- the total number, 43, was the same as in 2011, but only
nine states executed in 2012, compared to 13 in 2011. Connecticut became
the 17th abolitionist state in April, while a referendum on the
abolition of the death penalty was narrowly defeated in California in
November.
"Amnesty International report claims death penalty is declining worldwide," by Saeed Kamali Dehghan for the Guardian.
In 2012, only 21 countries were known to have carried out executions,
the same as the year before. More than two-thirds of the world's
countries –140 – are classified as nations that have either abandoned
the death penalty or are no longer implementing it.
Amnesty's Salil Shetty writes, "Time to drop 'high-cost revenge'," at CNN. Here's the beginning:
“If the death penalty is not a deterrent,
and it is not, and if the death penalty does not make us safer, and it
does not, then it is only high-cost revenge.”
These words could easily have come from me
or one of my colleagues at Amnesty International. We have after all been
campaigning for abolition since the 1970s because we view capital
punishment as the ultimate cruel and inhuman form of punishment.
But the quote actually comes from Charles M.
Harris – a senior judge in Florida, one of only nine states in the
United States to carry out death sentences in 2012.
Thankfully, Harris’s view is far from unique. Today, Amnesty International is releasing its annual report
on death penalty statistics across the globe. Once again, we have seen
the world move, slowly but surely, closer to becoming death
penalty-free. Only 21 countries were recorded as having carried out
executions last year, down from 28 a decade ago.
A longer perspective makes the change even
more striking. When we first started campaigning for abolition of the
death penalty 35 years ago, the world’s 16 abolitionist countries were a
clear minority. Now, 97 countries have completely abolished the death
penalty in law, while 140 in total are de facto death penalty free.
Coverage of AI's 2011 report is at the link. Related posts are in the report categoy index.