The number of countries which have formally abolished the death penalty had been steadily increasing, from 48 in to in No additional countries banned the death penalty in for the second year in a row, but Amnesty says that countries have either abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. At least 2, death sentences were passed in 56 countries in But in some cases the death sentences will be commuted, where countries are reluctant to enforce the punishment.
In recent years the number of countries which carry out executions has gradually declined. Amnesty includes five non UN-member countries in their figures. Countries without the death penalty are particularly concerned when one of their citizens faces execution in the U. Some countries refuse to extradite individuals to the U. In addition, many countries and international bodies consider the death penalty to be a human rights issue and various U.
The concern for human rights around the world has always been important in U. The gang rape of a photojournalist prompted these protests in Five years later, India applied the death penalty for rapists of girls under Credit: AP.
Next to murder, drug offences are the most common crime punishable by death. Someone can be sentenced to death for economic crimes, including corruption, in China, Iran and Vietnam, and for kidnapping in Iran and Iraq. In Saudi Arabia, torture and rape are also punishable by death. Various forms of treason and crimes against the state are punishable by death in China, Iran, Lebanon, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and under the Palestinian Authority with most executions taking place in the Hamas-administered Gaza Strip.
Last year, India expanded the scope of its death penalty to include rape of girls under 12 years old. She was acquitted. In a small handful of countries, the crime of blasphemy is punishable by death either by law or in practice. In Pakistan, the case of Asia Bibi made headlines when the Christian mother of five was sentenced to death by hanging in over a dispute with some Muslim women over a glass of water, during which she was accused of making derogatory remarks against the prophet Muhammad.
While this means that no one charged with blasphemy has been put to death in Pakistan, many have been murdered before their trial or after their release. In the Philippines, the death penalty was suspended in but under President Rodrigo Duterte extrajudicial killings have been rampant. Duterte was swept into power in after campaigning hard against drug trafficking, threatening to personally kill drug dealers and urging citizens to do the same. The official death toll of his war on drugs is more than , according to the government, but the Philippines Human Rights Commission fears as many as 27, people have been killed.
Duterte is now calling on the government to reinstate the death penalty for drug traffickers, with the matter being debated by the Philippines parliament. The Singaporean government does not announce executions before they happen. Executions are usually carried out at 6am on Fridays, says a Singapore writer , when most of the country is still asleep. As of , a total of 53 countries still have the death sentence, employing a variety of methods including hanging, shooting, lethal injection, electrocution and beheading.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Pakistan and, as an Islamic state, it must follow Islamic laws. The Pakistan Penal code lists 27 different offences punishable by death. They include blasphemy, rape, sexual intercourse outside of marriage, assault on the modesty of women and drug-smuggling. After several amendments from different governments in Pakistan, the Code is now a mixture of Islamic and English law.
In , the United States executed 22 people across seven states. The method was mainly lethal injection with two by electrocution. Amnesty International recorded executions in 20 countries in , a decrease of 5 per cent compared to at least
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