- The number of executions documented worldwide increased by around 20 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, a downward trend can be seen over the last few years.
- As in previous years, the Amnesty report does not contain any information on China, North Korea and Vietnam.
After a decline in the Corona year 2020, the number of executed death sentences rose sharply again in 2021: Amnesty International documented at least 579 executions in 18 countries – compared to the previous year, this is an increase of 20 percent.
Iran executed 314 people
For most of the world’s executions was according to Amnesty’s annual death penalty report 2021 Iran is responsible, where at least 314 people were reportedly executed – after 246 in the previous year. According to Amnesty International, this increase is partly due to the fact that the Iranian authorities have increased the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences.
In Saudi Arabia, the number of executions doubled from 27 in the previous year to 65 in 2021. The “deeply defective judicial system” sentenced the young Mustafa al-Darwish to death, Amnesty reported. The Shia minority was accused of taking part in a violent anti-government protest.
Legend:
A forthcoming execution in Afghanistan.
key stone
China keeps figures under lock and key
As in previous years, the Amnesty report does not contain any information on China, North Korea and Vietnam. “The governments of these three countries keep information on the death penalty under wraps and treat it as a state secret,” Amnesty said. However, the human rights organization assumes that thousands of executions have been carried out in China and a considerable number in North Korea and Vietnam.
According to the report, the number of newly imposed death sentences rose by almost 40 percent compared to the previous year: At least 2,052 people were sentenced to death in 56 states. Amnesty attributes the increase in part to the easing of corona measures, which had previously slowed judicial processes.
Despite the increase, the global total of death sentences was the second-lowest since 2016. Overall, Amnesty sees a move toward global abolition of the death penalty, with the number of states known to use the death penalty remaining in for the second year Episode at its lowest since Amnesty first began collecting data in 1979.
Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea and Sierra Leone enacted legislative changes that ended the death penalty in those countries by early 2022. Ghana, Malaysia and the Central African Republic took first steps in this direction. In 144 countries – more than two-thirds of all states – the death penalty is now abolished in law or practice.
Executions in the US suspended until further notice
According to the report, Virginia became the 23rd state – and the first Southern state – to abolish the death penalty. In addition, the US government announced in July that it would suspend all federal executions until further notice. 2021 was the year with the fewest executions in the United States since 1988.