More executions despite move away from death penalty

EVEN though more countries are renouncing the death penalty, more people were put to death last year (5,628) than in either of the previous two years, it was reported in Italy yesterday.

Anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain said the increase was because more countries with capital punishment on their books actually resorted to it in 2006. China alone accounted for 5,000 executions.

In its annual report on the death penalty, the group said the gradual trend of abolishing capital punishment continued, with 51 countries retaining the death penalty, compared with 54 in 2005. However, it said 27 countries had used the death penalty in 2006, up from 24 in 2005. As a result, the number of executions increased, to at least 5,628 last year compared with 5,494 in 2005 and 5,530 in 2004.

Overall, 146 countries and territories have renounced the death penalty to some extent, either through outright abolition or a moratorium, Hands Off Cain said.

China remained the top executioner, with at least 5,000 confirmed executions and unconfirmed reports that as many as 8,000 people were put to death annually. The report cited Chinese officials and academics as saying executions had decreased, however – in part because of a new amendment requiring the Supreme Court to confirm all death sentences and public hearings for appeals.

Iran came second in the group’s top execution rankings. Hands Off Cain said Tehran doubled the number of people it put to death in 2006, executing at least 215 compared with 113 in 2005, though it said the real number may be even higher.

Pakistan also nearly doubled executions in 2006, putting at least 82 people to death last year compared with 42 the year earlier.

Hands Off Cain said both Iran and Pakistan executed minors, in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The United States remained the only country in the Americas that carried out a death sentence in 2006 — 53 people were executed in the United States in 2006.