Two countries stand out in Amnesty International’s annual report on the death penalty: Iran and Saudi Arabia. In Iran, at least 576 people were executed in 2022, which is an increase of 83 percent compared to the previous year. At the same time, the number of confirmed executions in Saudi Arabia tripled, from 65 to 196. In March 2022, the Saudi Ministry of the Interior stated that 81 prisoners had been executed – in one day.
There are two significant reasons why the death penalty carried out globally increased for the second year in a row. Anna Johansson, Secretary General of Amnesty Sweden, describes the development as “very serious”.
– Between the years 2017 and 2020, it was rather the case that the number of executions in the world decreased every year, so it is difficult to say what has happened, she says.
“Silent critic”
In a number of countries, the death penalty has been used against people who demonstrated or exercised their freedom of expression. This applies, among other things, to Iran, which has executed people connected to the nationwide protests after the death of Mahsa Zhina Amini last year.
– It is particularly serious. Here, the death penalty is being misused to silence the opposition and silence critics. It is not acceptable and a violation of international law, says Anna Johansson.
China stands out
Another trend is that the number of executions in connection with drug-related crimes has increased significantly.
At the same time, Anna Johansson points out that the statistics are somewhat misleading. The country that by comparison executes the most people is China, according to Amnesty. But the Chinese regime considers data on the death penalty a state secret, so official statistics are lacking.
– It is almost impossible to confirm how many people are involved, but we believe that it is about thousands of people, says Anna Johansson.
However, not everything goes in the wrong direction. Hear Anna Johansson in the video player above about the progress made last year.