Though more and more countries are abandoning this barbaric method of punishment, it is shocking to know that in 2015 a record number of people were killed by judicial executions throughout the World.
According to Amnesty International at least 1634 persons were killed by judiciary in 2015, a figure which excludes China. It is believed that China executes maximum number of people but no data is available publicly. The sharpest rise in execution was in Pakistan were a moratorium on death penalty was lifted last year following the Islamist terror attack in a school.
When we exclude China, almost 90% of the killings happened in just three countries, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, all with laws or constitution based on Islam. The fourth position is claimed regrettably by a western democracy, the USA, with 28 executions.
The good news is the number of countries which had abolished death penalty rose to three figures. Now 102 countries in the world has laws abolishing death penalty, a much better number compared to just 16 in 1977. Countries that abolished death penalty in 2015 are Suriname, Fiji, Madagascar and Republic of Congo.
Let us hope for more of such good news in coming years.
Image credit –The Dawn
Civilized countries don’t have the death penalty.
Corollary: Countries with the death penalty aren’t civilized.
Very true
When you’re on a chart – ANY chart – that reads “China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudia Arabia, YOU, Iraq, Somalia…”, how the hell don’t you look in a mirror and think you need to change something today?
Another thing that intrigues me about that list is India – over a billion people, and out of all of them, precisely one executed. What the heck did that guy (and I’d be prepared to bet folding money it was a guy) do? I’d contend that for practical purposes, India has abolished the death penalty – one out of a billion is statistically insignificant (unless you’re the one, obvs). In a population that size, there was probably a higher death toll from people choking to death on a donkey.
That guy was Yakum Memon, who took part in the conspiracy that resulted in Mumbai serial blasts of 1993 which killed 287 people. Many in India had opined that he did not deserve death penalty as he did had only a peripheral role and he turned himself to the Police and cooperated with the probe. http://thewire.in/2015/07/17/why-yakub-memon-should-not-be-hanged-6662/
It should be noted that in the US, more and more states have abolished the death penalty (or suspended death sentences indefinitely), and Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, and Georgia account for nearly all the executions.