China: World’s best executioner
U.S. no slouch either.
Yahoo! News - Group: China Leads World in Executions
LONDON - China accounted for the majority of executions reported worldwide last year, but the true frequency of the death penalty is impossible to track because many of the sentences are carried out secretly, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
During 2004, more than 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries, including at least 3,400 in China, the rights group said. Additionally, more than 7,000 people were sentenced to death in 64 countries, it said.
Iran had the second highest number of executions, at least 159 people, followed by Vietnam, with 64. The United States ranked fourth on the list with 59, the report said.
“The figures released today are sadly only the tip of the iceberg. The true picture is hard to uncover as many countries continue to execute people secretly — contravening United Nations standards calling for disclosure of information on capital punishment,” the organization said.
Amnesty International said there was a worldwide trend toward ending the death penalty; during 2004, five countries — Bhutan, Greece, Samoa, Senegal and Turkey — abolished it for all crimes.
Several countries, while retaining the death penalty in law, observed moratoria on executions, including Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi and South Korea, the human rights group said.
But the latest figures highlight the ongoing need for international action to outlaw the death penalty, Amnesty added.
“It is worrying that the vast majority of those executed in the world did not have fair trials. Many were convicted on the basis of ‘evidence’ extracted under torture,” it said.
Amnesty cited the case of Ryan Matthews, who in 2004 became the 115th prisoner in the United States released from death row on the grounds of innocence since 1973.
Matthews had been sentenced to death in Louisiana in 1999 for a murder committed when he was 17.
His death sentence was overturned in April 2004 after an appeal judge found that the prosecution had suppressed evidence at the trial, and also on the basis of DNA evidence that pointed to another person as the murderer.
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On the Net:
Amnesty International, http://web.amnesty.org
