Executions rise in 2015, but more countries ban capital punishment
| New York
Amnesty International reports that there was a dramatic 54 percent increase in聽executions聽globally in 2015, with Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia responsible for nearly 90 percent of the killings.
The human rights organization said that the figure of at least 1,634 people聽executed last year 鈥撀�聰 up from 1,061 in 2014 鈥� does not include聽executions聽in China where data on the death penalty is considered a state secret.
Amnesty International's Secretary General Salil Shetty told several reporters on Tuesday that for China "our estimate is that they聽execute聽as much as the rest of the world."
He said China is currently reviewing crimes punishable by the death penalty so there is "a slim ray of hope" that the number of聽executions聽may be reduced.
On the upside, Shetty said, four countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2015 鈥撀�聰 Republic of Congo, Fiji, Madagascar, and Surinam 鈥� bringing the global total of countries now banning聽executions聽to 102.
Other countries have also made progress: Mongolia is set to abolish the death penalty this year, China and Vietnam reduced the number of offenses that can be punished by death, and Malaysia announced legislative reforms to review the country's mandatory death penalty laws, Amnesty said.
In addition, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Kenya, and South Korea considered legislation to abolish the death penalty, it said.
When Amnesty International began campaigning against the death penalty in 1977, only 16 countries had fully abolished the death penalty.
"The overall trend is very clear," Shetty said, "more than half the world's nations have abolished the death penalty."
According to the report, the number of聽executions聽recorded in Saudi Arabia increased by 76 percent to 158.聽Executions聽in Iran rose 31 percent to 977. And the 326聽executions聽in Pakistan were the highest ever recorded by Amnesty International.
Amnesty said it received information that both Iran and Pakistan聽executed聽people in 2015 who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed, and it said juveniles face the death sentence in several other countries.
In the United States, 28 people were聽executed聽in 2015, nearly half in Texas, the most active death penalty state, which put 13 people to death, the report said. Missouri聽executed聽six people, Georgia five, Florida two and Oklahoma and Virginia one each. Amnesty said 60 percent of those聽executed聽were black or Hispanic, double their percentage in the population.
On the plus side, Amnesty pointed to the governor of Pennsylvania establishing a moratorium on聽executions聽last year and the legislature in Nebraska overriding the governor's veto of a bill abolishing the death penalty.
