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Landscape to Proof death sentences and executions 2009 amnesty international is a global movement of 2.8 million supporters, members and activists in more than 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the universal declaration of human Rights and other international human rights standards. We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations. amnesty international Publications First published in 2010 by amnesty international Publications international secretariat Peter Benenson house 1 easton street London Wc1x 0dW united Kingdom www.amnesty.org © amnesty international Publications 2010 index: act 50/001/2010 original language: english Printed by amnesty international, international secretariat, united Kingdom all rights reserved. this publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any method without fee for advocacy, campaigning and teaching purposes, but not for resale. the copyright holders request that all such use be registered with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, prior written permission must be obtained from the publishers, and a fee may be payable. Cover phot o: Painting by delara darabi, who was executed in Rasht, iran, on 1 May 2009. after unfair judicial proceedings during which she consistently protested her innocence and despite a two-month stay of execution order, delara darabi was hanged for a murder which took place when she was aged 17. © delara darabi Back cover phot o: a flower-laying protest against the execution of delara darabi was held by amnesty international members in front of the embassy of iran in Warsaw, Poland, on 6 May 2009. © amnesty international CONTENTS OVERVIEW...................................................................................................................2 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S WORLDWIDE OPPOSITION TO THE DEATH PENALTY .........4 THE GLOBAL PICTURE .................................................................................................6 MOVING FORWARD ON THE LONG ROAD TO GLOBAL ABOLITION.................................10 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS .......................................................................................12 ASIA ......................................................................................................................12 THE AMERICAS ......................................................................................................15 EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA ..................................................................................18 MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA .........................................................................18 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA...........................................................................................22 REPORTED DEATH SENTENCES AND EXECUTIONS 2009 ............................................24 ANNEX I-ABOLITIONIST AND RETENTIONIST COUNTRIES AS OF 31 DECEMBER 2009 .28 ANNEX II-RATIFICATION OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AS OF 31 DECEMBER 2009....30 ENDNOTES.............................................................................................................32 2 Death sentences and executions in 2009 OVERVIEW The world witnessed further progress towards ending judicial killings by states in 2009. For the first time since Amnesty International started keeping records, not a single execution was carried out in all of Europe, while important steps were taken to turn the United Nations General Assembly resolutions calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions into reality. Two more countries, Burundi and Togo, abolished the death penalty in 2009, bringing the number of countries that have removed capital punishment entirely from their laws to 95. The world is in reach of 100 countries declaring their refusal to put people to death. In the Americas, the United States of America (USA) was the only nation to carry out executions in 2009. In sub-Saharan Africa only two countries executed prisoners: Botswana and Sudan. In Asia, there were no executions in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Mongolia and Pakistan in 2009, the first execution-free year in those countries in recent times. These successes follow decisions by the UN General Assembly in 2007 and 2008 to call for a global moratorium on executions as a first step to total abolition. Amnesty International hopes and believes that the UN General Assembly resolutions – the first of their kind – will continue to be a major influence in persuading countries to abandon their use of capital punishment. A similar resolution will be considered at the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly in late 2010. But even as world opinion and practice shift inexorably towards abolition, the extensive and politicized use of the death penalty continues in countries including China, Iran and Sudan. In 2009, as in previous years, the majority of the world’s executions occurred in two regions: Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. The continuing executions of juvenile offenders – those under 18 years of age at the time of the crime – continued in two countries: Iran and Saudi Arabia. These executions were in violation of international law. Secrecy surrounds the use of the death penalty in countries such as China, Belarus, Iran, Mongolia, North Korea and Viet Nam. Such secrecy is indefensible. If capital punishment is a legitimate act of government as these nations claim, there is no reason for its use to be hidden from the public and international scrutiny. Eighteen countries carried out executions in 2009. Amnesty International has documented the executions of 714 people, but this total does not include figures from China, where the Index ACT 50/001/2010 Amnesty International March 2010 Death sentences and executions in 2009 3 majority of the world’s executions take place, so the real global total is significantly higher. In 2009, China again refused to divulge exact figures on its use of the death penalty, although evidence from previous years and a number of current sources indicates that the figure remains in the thousands. Methods of execution in 2009 included hanging, shooting, beheading, stoning, electrocution and lethal injection. This document summarizes Amnesty International’s global research on the use of the death penalty in 2009. Information was gathered from various sources including official statistics (where available), non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, human rights defenders, the media and field research. The figures used are the largest that can safely be drawn from our research, although we emphasise that the true figures are significantly higher. Some states intentionally conceal death penalty proceedings, others do not keep or make available statistics on the numbers of death sentences and executions. Where “+” is indicated after a country and it is preceded by a number, it means that the figure Amnesty International has calculated is a minimum figure. Where “+” is indicated after a country and is not preceded by a number, it indicates that there were executions or death sentences (at least more than one) in that country but it was not possible to calculate a figure. A list of abolitionist and retentionist countries as of 31 December 2009 can be found in Annex I. Annex II reports the list of ratifications of international treaties providing for the abolition of the death penalty as of 31 December 2009. Index: ACT 50/001/2010 Amnesty International March 2010 4 Death sentences and executions in 2009 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S WORLDWIDE OPPOSITION TO THE DEATH PENALTY Amnesty International has been campaigning for the total abolition of the death penalty since 1977. The organization believes that the death penalty violates the right to life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.1 It opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner. Amnesty International believes that the death penalty legitimizes an irreversible act of violence by the state. Research demonstrates that the death penalty is often applied in a discriminatory manner, being used disproportionately against the poor, minorities and members of racial, ethnic and religious communities. The death penalty is often imposed after a grossly unfair trial. But even when trials respect international standards of fairness, the risk of executing the innocent can never be fully eliminated – the death penalty will inevitably claim innocent victims, as has been persistently demonstrated. While the death penalty runs the risk of irrevocable error, it has not been proven to have any special deterrent effect. It denies the possibility of rehabilitation. It promotes simplistic responses to complex human problems, rather than pursuing constructive solutions. It consumes resources that could be better used to work against violent crime and assist those affected by it. It is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to it. It is an affront to human dignity. Amnesty International is a global movement of 2.8 million supporters, members and activists in more than 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. In 2009 its sections, structures and activists from around the world
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