{"id":1863,"date":"2019-04-10T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/death-penalty-2018-dramatic-fall-in-global-executions\/"},"modified":"2024-11-04T16:06:42","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T09:06:42","slug":"death-penalty-2018-dramatic-fall-in-global-executions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/news\/2019\/04\/death-penalty-2018-dramatic-fall-in-global-executions\/","title":{"rendered":"Death penalty 2018: Dramatic fall in global executions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Global executions fell by 31%, reaching lowest figure in at least a decade<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>But several countries saw a rise in executions, including Belarus, Japan, Singapore, South Sudan and USA<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Thailand resumed executions, Sri Lanka threatened to follow suit<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>China remained world\u2019s top executioner, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Viet Nam and Iraq<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Global executions fell by almost one-third last year to the lowest figure in at least a decade, Amnesty International said in its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/download\/Documents\/ACT5098072019ENGLISH.PDF\">2018 global review of the death penalty<\/a>&nbsp;published today. The statistics assess known executions worldwide except in China, where figures thought to be in their thousands remain classified as a state secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following a change to its anti-narcotics laws, executions in Iran \u2013 a country where the use of the death penalty is rife \u2013 fell by a staggering 50%. Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia also showed a significant reduction in the number they carried out. As a result, execution figures fell globally from at least 993 in 2017, to at least 690 in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote is-lined\"><p><strong style=\"font-weight: 400;font-family: amnestytradegothicbold, dindanmaibold, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-size: large\">\u201cThe dramatic global fall in executions proves that even the most unlikely countries are starting to change their ways and realize the death penalty is not the answer,\u201d said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International\u2019s Secretary General.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote is-lined\"><p><strong style=\"font-weight: 400;font-family: amnestytradegothicbold, dindanmaibold, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-size: large\">\u201cDespite regressive steps from some, the number of executions carried out by several of the worst perpetrators has fallen significantly. This is a hopeful indication that it\u2019s only a matter of time before this cruel punishment is consigned to history, where it belongs.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reinstating the death penalty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>However, it wasn\u2019t all good news. Amnesty International found increases in executions in Belarus, Japan, Singapore, South Sudan and the USA. Thailand carried out its first execution since 2009, while Sri Lanka\u2019s President Maithripala Sirisena declared he would resume executions after more than 40 years, posting an advert seeking executioners in February 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote is-lined\"><p><strong style=\"font-weight: 400;font-family: amnestytradegothicbold, dindanmaibold, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-size: large\">\u201cThe positive news of 2018 has been marred by a small number of states who are shamefully determined to buck the trend,\u201d said Kumi Naidoo.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote is-lined\"><p><strong style=\"font-weight: 400;font-family: amnestytradegothicbold, dindanmaibold, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-size: large\">\u201cJapan, Singapore and South Sudan reported their highest levels of executions in years, and Thailand resumed executions after almost a decade; but these countries now form a dwindling minority. To all the countries that still resort to the death penalty, I challenge you to act boldly and put a stop to this abhorrent punishment now.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote is-lined\"><p><span style=\"font-size: large\">I challenge you to act boldly and put a stop to this abhorrent punishment now.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<p>Noura Hussein, a young Sudanese woman, was sentenced to death in May 2018 for killing the man she was forced to marry as he tried to rape her. After global outrage, including major campaigning efforts from Amnesty International, her death sentence was over-turned, and she was instead given a five-year prison sentence and asked to pay financial compensation, customarily known as Diya or \u201cblood money\u201d of 337,500 Sudanese pounds (around US$8,400) to the victim\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Noura told Amnesty International:<\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote is-lined\"><p><strong style=\"font-weight: 400;font-family: amnestytradegothicbold, dindanmaibold, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-size: large\">\u201cI was in absolute shock when the judge told me I had been sentenced to death. I hadn\u2019t done anything to deserve to die. I couldn\u2019t believe the level of injustice \u00ad\u2013 especially on women. I\u2019d never imagined being executed before that moment. The first thing that came to my mind was, \u2018How do people feel when they are executed? What do they do?\u2019. My case was especially hard as at the time of sentencing, my family had disowned me. I was alone dealing with the shock.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The world\u2019s top executioners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>China remained the world\u2019s top executioner \u2013 but the true extent of the use of the death penalty in China is unknown as this data is classified as a state secret. Amnesty International believes&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/documents\/asa17\/5849\/2017\/en\/\">thousands of people are sentenced to death and executed<\/a>&nbsp;each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an unprecedented move, death penalty figures were made publicly available by authorities in Viet Nam, who reported that at least 85 executions took place in 2018. This tally confirms its place within the world\u2019s top five executing countries: China (1000s), Iran (at least 253), Saudi Arabia (149), Viet Nam (at least 85) and Iraq (at least 52).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><div style=\"position:relative\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"944\" height=\"788\" src=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"aiic-ignore wp-image-3427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image.png 944w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-300x250.png 300w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-768x641.png 768w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-719x600.png 719w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-734x613.png 734w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-86x72.png 86w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-173x144.png 173w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-60x50.png 60w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-120x100.png 120w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-200x167.png 200w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-400x334.png 400w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-260x217.png 260w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-520x434.png 520w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-325x271.png 325w, https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/image-650x543.png 650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 944px) 100vw, 944px\" \/><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>H\u1ed3 Duy H\u1ea3i, convicted of theft and murder after he says he was tortured into signing a \u201cconfession\u201d, was sentenced to death in 2008. He remains at risk of execution on death row in Viet Nam. The stress of a pending death sentence has had a hugely detrimental impact on his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His mother, Nguy\u1ec5n Th\u1ecb Loan, told Amnesty International:<\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote is-lined\"><p><strong style=\"font-weight: 400;font-family: amnestytradegothicbold, dindanmaibold, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-size: large\">\u201cIt has been 11 years since he was arrested and our family was torn apart. I can no longer bear this pain. Just thinking about my son suffering behind bars hurts me so much. I would like the international community to help reunite my family. You are my only hope.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<p>Despite a significant decrease in the number of executions it carried out, Iran still accounted for more than one third of executions recorded globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amnesty International was also concerned about a sharp spike in the number of death sentences that were imposed in some countries over the course of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Iraq, the number quadrupled from at least 65 in 2017, to at least 271 in 2018. In Egypt, the number of death sentences handed down rose by more than 75%, from at least 402 in 2017, to at least 717 in 2018. This rise can be attributed to the Egyptian authorities\u2019 appalling track record of handing out mass death sentences after grossly unfair trials often based on \u201cconfessions\u201d obtained under torture and flawed police investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Global trend towards abolition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, 2018\u2019s figures show that the death penalty is firmly in decline, and that effective steps are being taken across the world to end the use of this cruel and inhuman punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2018\/06\/burkina-faso-abolition-of-death-penalty-a-hardwon-victory\/\">Burkina Faso<\/a>&nbsp;abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in June. In February and July respectively,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/campaigns\/2018\/03\/why-gambia-progress-should-spur-abolition-of-the-death-penalty-in-africa\/\">Gambia<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2018\/10\/malaysia-death-penalty-abolition\/\">Malaysia<\/a>&nbsp;both declared an official moratorium on executions. In the US, the death penalty statute in the state of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnestyusa.org\/press-releases\/washington-becomes-the-20th-state-to-abolish-the-death-penalty\/\">Washington<\/a>&nbsp;was declared&nbsp;unconstitutional in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the United Nations General Assembly in December, 121 countries \u2013 an unprecedented number &#8211; voted to support a global moratorium on the death penalty. Only 35 states voted against it.<\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote is-lined\"><p><strong style=\"font-weight: 400;font-family: amnestytradegothicbold, dindanmaibold, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-size: large\">\u201cSlowly but steadily, global consensus is building towards ending the use of the death penalty. Amnesty has been campaigning to stop executions around the world for more than 40 years \u2013 but with more than 19,000 people still languishing on death row worldwide, the struggle is far from over,\u201d said Kumi Naidoo.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<p>At the end of 2018,&nbsp;<strong>106<\/strong>&nbsp;countries had abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes and&nbsp;<strong>142&nbsp;<\/strong>countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amnestywebsite.github.io\/amnesty-death-penalty\/iframe-resizer\">https:\/\/amnestywebsite.github.io\/amnesty-death-penalty\/iframe-resizer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/index.php\/download_file\/view\/1925\/1282\/\"><strong>Read full report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/index.php\/download_file\/view\/1925\/1282\/\">&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u0e40\u0e23\u0e35\u0e22\u0e19\u0e23\u0e39\u0e49\u0e40\u0e1e\u0e34\u0e48\u0e21\u0e40\u0e15\u0e34\u0e21\u0e40\u0e01\u0e35\u0e48\u0e22\u0e27\u0e01\u0e31\u0e1a\u0e41\u0e2d\u0e21\u0e40\u0e19\u0e2a\u0e15\u0e35\u0e49<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u0e1a\u0e23\u0e34\u0e08\u0e32\u0e04\u0e2a\u0e19\u0e31\u0e1a\u0e2a\u0e19\u0e38\u0e19\u0e41\u0e2d\u0e21\u0e40\u0e19\u0e2a\u0e15\u0e35\u0e49<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global executions fell by almost one-third last year to the lowest figure in at least a decade, Amnesty International said in its&nbsp;2018 global review of the death penalty&nbsp;published today. The statistics assess known executions worldwide except in China, where figures thought to be in their thousands remain classified as a state secret. Following a change [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":0,"_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":0,"_hero_title":"","_hero_content":"","_hero_cta_text":"","_hero_cta_link":"","_hero_alignment":"","_hero_background":"","_hero_size":"","_hero_show":"","_hero_type":"","_hero_embed":"","_hero_video_id":0,"_hero_hide_image_caption":true,"_hero_hide_image_copyright":false,"_nav_style":"","_disable_share_icons":false,"_disable_sidebar":false,"_display_author_info":false,"_hide_featured_image":false,"_hide_featured_image_caption":true,"_maximize_post_content":false,"_reduce_content_width":false,"_sidebar_id":0,"_stretch_thumbnail":false,"byline_context":"","byline_entity":"","byline_is_author":false,"disable_related_content":false,"download_id":0,"download_text":"","show_published_date":true,"show_updated_date":true,"term_slider":"","amnesty_index_number":"","recipients":"","recipients_refresh":"","recipients_refreshed":"","amnesty_umbraco_data":"","document_ref":"","amnesty_updated":"","footnotes":""},"category":[1585],"location":[1588,1587,1589],"resourceType":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-1863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","location-southeast-asia","location-thailand","location-world"],"datePosted":"April 10, 2019","mlpRelationships":{"1":1879,"2":1863},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=1863"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=1863"},{"taxonomy":"resource-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resourceType?post=1863"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=1863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}