rferl.org – Ali Kazemi, 22, was recently executed in Iran for a murder he allegedly committed when he was 15.
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Executions and death sentences continued to drop globally in 2017 after hitting record-high levels in previous years, with Iran and Pakistan remaining among the world’s top five executioners, Amnesty International said on April 12.
The London-based human rights watchdog said in its latest report – Death Sentences And Executions 2017 – that positive measures, such as legal amendments in Iran to limit capital punishment for drug-related crimes, and notable reductions in the number of death sentences worldwide have contributed to a 4 percent drop in executions compared to the previous year.
The number of executions – 993 – returned to levels recorded before the 2015 peak, when more than 1,600 people were put to death, Amnesty said.
More than half of recorded executions — 507 — were carried out in Iran, followed by Saudi Arabia, with 146, Iraq, with 125, and Pakistan, with 60 confirmed executions.
However, the number does not include thousands of executions carried out by China, which remains by far the world’s top executioner but does not disclose data on executions and treats such information as a state secret.