Death penalty rebounds in 2023; Iran leads its use

The use of the death penalty reached its highest level in almost a decade in 2023, an Amnesty International report revealed, although almost three out of four countries do not apply it, either because it is prohibited or because they have not put it into practice in at least a decade

Iran was the leader in recorded executions last year with 853 executions, but China is believed to be by far the biggest executioner, with “thousands” of people secretly executed each year, according to Amnesty.

The following are key figures from the practice.

We recommend: Which death penalty executions are the most common in the world?

Abolished in 112 countries

Sixteen countries executed prisoners in 2023.

Nearly three-quarters of all countries had abolished capital punishment by the end of 2023.

A total of 112 countries have abolished it for all crimes, 23 are considered abolitionist in practice because they have not executed anyone in a decade, and nine have abolished it for common crimes.

The only country on the European continent that still applies the death penalty is Belarus, a firm ally of Russia.

Rebound in Iran and Saudi Arabia

The 853 executions confirmed by Amnesty in 2023 in Iran represents an increase of almost 50 percent compared to the previous year, when an increase of 83% compared to 2021 had already been recorded.

The majority were hangings for drug crimes, 38 for “corruption on land” – a charge used to condemn dissidents since the start of protests against the use of the veil in October 2022.

Iran executed eight men in cases linked to those protests. Human rights groups point out that the rise in hangings seeks to generate fear in the population.

Saudi Arabia is known for beheadings. The kingdom executed 81 people in a single day in 2022.

That year executions tripled to 196, and remained high in 2023, with 172 cases, mainly for murder or terrorism.

Decline in the United States

In the United States, there were 24 executions in 2023, up from 18 in 2022, but far from the 98 in 1999.

The trend is toward abolishing the punishment, with 23 of the 50 states banning its use, and another 14 having suspended executions for a decade or more.

The first execution of 2024 in the country, that of Kenneth Smith, convicted of murder, was by inhalation of nitrogen gas, a method that causes suffocation and is condemned by the UN, which equates it with “torture.”

We recommend: Alabama prepares the first nitrogen asphyxiation execution.

Reduction in Africa

The only country in sub-Saharan Africa to apply the death penalty in 2023 was Somalia, where executions tripled to 38.

Courts in the Horn of Africa country often hand down the death penalty for terrorism cases. Somalia faces a 17-year insurgency by the al-Qaida-linked group Al Shabaab, as well as militants from the Islamic State group.

Some three-quarters of African countries have abolished the death penalty, both legally and in practice.

With information from AFP.

ORP