Four countries in the Middle East, led by Iran, have resorted “relentlessly and terribly” to the death penalty in 2020 despite the covid-19 pandemic and are ranked number one in the world, according to a report by Amnesty International published today, reports APE.
The London-based human rights group said it recorded 483 executions in 18 countries in 2020, down 26% from 657 in 2019 and the lowest in a decade.
The figures published by Amnesty International do not include executions in China, which, according to the NGO, remains “the world’s first executioner” with thousands dead each year. But this information is a state secret in China and is not published.
“In 2020, there was a new reduction in the use of the death penalty worldwide and although the covid-19 pandemic helped reduce the number of executions and convictions at the end of the sentence, it also worsened the severity of this sentence,” Amnesty said.
Outside China, 88% of executions took place in four countries: Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, according to the same source.
“Throughout 2020, the countries of the Middle East and North Africa have shown relentless and frightening obsession with carrying out their plans to execute people, even in a year when most of the world has focused on protecting human life. “from a deadly virus,” said Heba Morajev, Amnesty International’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
The number of executions recorded in the Middle East decreased by 25% due to the reduction of 85% of executions in Saudi Arabia and the reduction of half the executions in Iraq.
However, the report notes a “significant increase” in the number of executions in Egypt, which tripled from 32 in 2019 to 107 in 2020.
Iran has carried out at least 246 executions, maintaining its number one death penalty in the region and second only to China in the world.
According to Amnesty International, in Iran “the death penalty is increasingly being used as a weapon of repression against dissidents, protesters and members of ethnic minorities.”
Some of the people executed in Iran last year were Kurds or belonged to the Baloch minority, the NGO said.
In addition, the Iranian authorities are executing even convicts who were minors at the time of the crime, in violation of international law, Amnesty International has denounced, citing three such cases.
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