Japan, one of the few developed countries to still impose capital punishment, on Thursday sentenced to death a man found guilty of carrying out an arson attack that killed 36 people at an anime studio in 2019.
The sentence comes as a convicted murderer in the United States is scheduled to be executed this week using nitrogen gas, a method likened by the United Nations to “torture”.
While the number of known executions rose sharply in 2022, the last year for which global statistics are available, the number of countries that put people to death continues to fall.
Here are some key figures:
– Huge leap in 2022 –
In 2022, the number of known executions jumped by 53 percent, rising to 883 from 579 in 2021, according to a report from Amnesty International in May 2023.
The figure was the highest recorded globally since 2017 (993).
Three countries accounted for 90 percent of all reported executions in 2022: Iran, with 576 (up 83 percent), Saudi Arabia with 196 (tripling in number from 2021), and Egypt with 24 (down by 71 percent).
Amnesty’s figures do not include executions in China, believed to be the world’s top executioner, as well as North Korea and Vietnam. The three countries keep their data secret.
– Abolished in 112 countries –
A total of 112 countries had formally abolished the death penalty for all crimes by the end of 2022, with Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic the most recent to join the club.
“Without doubt, the world continued to move away from the death penalty and only a minority of countries –- that are increasingly becoming isolated -– actively used the punishment,” Amnesty wrote.
– United States –
There were 24 executions in the United States in 2023, compared to 18 in 2022.
Texas carried out the most executions — eight — with Florida, which resumed executions after a lengthy pause, second with six.
Virginia became the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty in 2021, the first southern state from the former Confederacy to do so.
The governors of six other states — Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee — have put a hold on its use.
– Saudi Arabia –
Official figures show executions tripled in Saudi Arabia in comparison with 2021, from 65 to 196, the highest number Amnesty recorded in the country in 30 years.
This was mainly due to the increase in recorded executions for terrorism-related offences and the resumption of executions for drug-related offences.
A moratorium on executions for drug-related offences, which the Saudi Human Rights Commission had said was put in place in 2020, ended in 2022.
– Iran –
The 576 people executed in Iran in 2022 were mainly those convicted of murder and drug-related offences, Amnesty said.
Of the 13 women among the 883 people known to have been executed in 2022, 12 were in Iran, which was rocked by women-led protests in late 2022 over the death of Mahsa Amini, following her arrest by the morality police for alleged infringements of the country’s strict female dress code.
Iran has executed nine people over the protests.
– Egypt –
Egypt executed 71 percent fewer people in 2022 compared to 2021, but known death sentences rose by 51 percent.
– Death sentences –
Amnesty said at least 2,016 death sentences were handed out around the world in 2022, a slight decrease over the previous year (2,052).
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