Death penalty around the world

Saudi Arabia's announcement that it executed a record 81 prisoners in a single day has reignited the debate over the ongoing use of capital punishment in around 50 countries worldwide.

The United States, Iran, Egypt, and dozens of other countries continue to put prisoners to death, using methods including beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection, and shooting. 

Saudi Arabia had cut back on the practice but in the past two years increased executions.

Downward trend

At least 483 people were executed in 18 countries in 2020, the latest year for which Amnesty International has published figures.

That represents a drop of 26% compared to 2019 when there were 657 executions, confirming a downward trend since 2015.

The figure does not however include executions believed to have been carried out in China, which keeps such data secret, as well as North Korea and Vietnam.

Eighty-eight percent of all reported executions took place in Iran (246), Egypt (107), Iraq (45), and Saudi Arabia (27).

Abolished

More than 100 countries have formally abolished the death penalty for all crimes.

Nearly half of those are in Europe and Central Asia.

But 147 countries have abolished either in law or practice, according to Amnesty International, with Kazakhstan, Malawi, and Sierra Leone the latest nations to ban capital punishment.

United States

Virginia became the 23rd American state to abolish the death penalty in March 2020, the first country from the old Confederate south to do so. It also held the United States record for executions.

Three other states: California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, have a moratorium on the death penalty, meaning they do not apply it although it remains on the statute books.

In 2021, the US put 11 people to death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, down from 17 in 2020.

Saudi Arabia

The 81 people put to death in a single day on Saturday are more than the 69 executed in all of 2021, AFP counted. 

That year marked a sharp increase in executions, which had fallen to 27 in 2020 after the introduction of a moratorium on the execution of convicted drug traffickers.

Africa

More than 30 African countries still have the death penalty on their statute books but just less than half of them have carried out executions in recent years. 

Egypt executed three times more people in 2020 compared to 2019.

Death sentences

Amnesty said at least 1,477 death sentences were handed out in 54 countries in 2020, a decrease of 36% from the previous year when there were at least 2,307 in 56 countries.

This drop is partly due to the pandemic which hindered justice systems around the world. (AFP)