Amnesty International released Death Penalty Report 2016

The Amnesty International on 11 April 2017 released the Death Penalty Report 2016. As per the report, at least 1,032 people were executed in 23 countries in 2016. In 2015, Amnesty International recorded 1,634 executions in 25 countries worldwide.

As per the report, most executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan – in that order.

Highlights of Death Penalty Report 2016

• The report concluded that China remained the world’s top executioner. However, the true extent of the use of the death penalty in China is unknown as this data is considered a State secret.

• Excluding China, 87 per cent of all executions took place in just four countries – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan.

• For the first time since 2006, the USA was not one figured in the Top 5 Executioners List. It fell to the seventh place behind Egypt. The 20 executions in the USA were the lowest in the country since 1991.

• During 2016, 23 countries, about one in eight of all countries worldwide, are known to have carried out executions.

• Belarus, Botswana, Nigeria and authorities within the State of Palestine resumed executions in 2016.

• Chad, India, Jordan, Oman and United Arab Emirates –all countries that executed people in 2015 − did not report any executions last year.

• In 2016, two countries – Benin and Nauru– abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes.