Iran leads China, Saudi, Somalia, U.S. on death penalty ranking
More countries abolish execution in 2023
Islamic Republic of Iran leads with the highest number of recorded death penalty executions, accounting for 74 per cent of all recorded executions, the European Union (EU) has said in its October 10 commemoration of the European and World Day Against the Death Penalty.
A joint statement by the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, condemned the death penalty as an inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment, representing the ultimate denial of human dignity.
On the occasion of the commemoration, the EU and the Council of Europe strongly reaffirmed their unequivocal opposition to the death penalty or its reintroduction, in all cases and in] all circumstances, stating: “We welcome the growing worldwide support for the abolition of the death penalty.
“More than two-thirds of all countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. Last year, the number of countries that carried out executions reached the lowest figure on record. Despite this trend towards abolition, the death penalty is still carried out in a number of countries,” the joint statement read.
According to the Council of Europe and the EU, the five countries with the reported highest number of executions in 2023 were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and the United States of America.
According to reports, Iran alone accounted for 74 per cent of all recorded executions. The use of nitrogen hypoxia, a controversial method of execution, in the United States of America was described by the EU and the Council of Europe as a thing of major concern. The Council noted that Belarus was the only country in the continent of Europe that still carried out the death penalty.
MEANWHILE, human rights organisation, Amnesty International, has said that three sub-Saharan African countries considering ending the death penalty must act now and abolish the death penalty once and for all, paving the way for others around the world to follow in their footsteps.
Kenya and Zimbabwe currently have bills tabled to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, while Gambia, which has made steady progress against the punishment since 2017, has commenced a constitutional amendment process that will, among other things, effectively abolish the death penalty.
Amnesty International said that in 2023, it recorded 1,153 executions, an increase of 31 per cent (270) from the 883 known executions in 2022. It noted that the year 2023 continued a worrying trend with an alarming surge in executions in Iran and Saudi Arabia, a decision in Democratic Republic of Congo to resume executions, and Taiwan’s Supreme Court failing to abolish the death penalty.
Yet countries in sub-Saharan Africa offer a glimmer of hope in the way towards the global abolition of the death penalty. So far, 113 countries around the world have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. In 2023, Amnesty International documented a sharp increase in the use of the death penalty across sub-Saharan African.
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