Amnesty International announced in its annual report on executions in the world that about 900 people were executed last year in 20 countries, at the highest level since 2017.
Amnesty International announced in its annual report on executions in the world that about 900 people were executed last year in 20 countries, at the highest level since 2017.
“The sharp increase in the number of executions that are known to have taken place worldwide in 2022 is mainly due to the significant increase in the number of executions recorded in the Middle East and North Africa,” the international human rights organization said in its report.
The report added that in this region, “the number of executions known to have taken place increased by 59%, from 520 executions in 2021 to 825 in 2022.”
Thus, the Middle East and North Africa region carried out the overwhelming majority (93%) of death sentences in the world, with the exception of China, which is not included in the report.
The report said, “A massive 93% of the executions that were known to have taken place in the world, with the exception of China, during 2022 were carried out in the Middle East and North Africa.”
He explained that out of the 825 executions recorded in this region, 94% of them were carried out in two countries, Iran (70%) and Saudi Arabia (24%), two countries where people are usually executed after unfair trials.
Iran recorded an 83% increase in death sentences it carried out last year compared to the previous year (576 compared to 314), while the number of executions recorded in Saudi Arabia tripled (65 in 2021 to 196 in 2022), according to the report.
The report pointed out that the number of death sentences carried out by the Kingdom last year represented “the largest number recorded by Amnesty International in this country in 30 years.”
In its report, the human rights organization expressed regret that “four countries, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and China, have executed people convicted of drug-related offences, in violation of international human rights law, which prohibits the use of the death penalty” except for the most serious crimes, that is, those that involve murder. Mayors.
Amnesty International also expressed its concern because Saudi Arabia “carried out, in just one day in March, the mass executions of 81 people.”
Regarding Iran, the report said, “The Iranian authorities continued to use the death penalty as a tool of political repression.”
Amnesty pointed out that for a large number of countries, the figures mentioned in its report “represent the minimum numbers related to this penalty, and the real total numbers are likely to be higher.”
As for China, Amnesty said that since 2009 it has stopped publishing its estimates of the use of the death penalty in this country, noting that “the available information indicates that thousands of people are executed and executed annually.”
However, despite this dark picture, Amnesty pointed out that “the world has witnessed remarkable progress towards the abolition of the death penalty.” In 2022, six countries joined the list of countries that have completely or partially abolished the death penalty.