Amnesty International publishes its annual report on the state of the death penalty in the world on Wednesday May 29. A worrying situation on an international level: 1,153 executions were recorded in 2023, the highest figure in almost a decade. On the African continent, if executions more than tripled compared to 2022 in sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb, all were carried out in a single country: Somalia.
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Somalia executed 38 people in 2023, but is the only one on the continent to have applied the death penalty. A year earlier, two had used it: already Somalia and South Sudan.
If no country in Africa has abolished the death penalty last yearthe parliaments of Ghana, Kenya, Liberia and Zimbabwe adopted texts moving in the direction of abolition.
Death sentences were handed down in 14 countries, two fewer than in 2022. But their number increased by 66%, to reach 494. They were notably multiplied by three in Nigeria : from 77 to 246.
However, these figures should be taken with caution, says Amnesty International. The increase in death sentences is also noted in Somalia and Kenya. It should be noted, however, that the Kenyan authorities also granted more than 600 sentence commutations last year. The practice seems to be growing: Zambia has also granted nearly 400.
Globally, the number of executions reached its highest level worldwide since 2015, led by a sharp increase in Iran. The London-based human rights organization counted 1,153 executions in 2023 – not including China, which does not give its figures -, an increase of more than 30% compared to 2022. A total of 2,428 death sentences were handed down, an increase of 20%.
Iran alone has executed 853 people, almost 50% more than in 2022.