Amnesty International, 'never so many executions since 2017'

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 16 - "In 2022, at least 883 people were put to death in 20 states, it is the highest figure recorded since 2017". This was announced by Amnesty International in its latest report on the death penalty, specifying that the "significant increase, which does not take into account the thousands of death sentences allegedly carried out in China, depends on the states of the Middle East-North Africa area, whose total rose from 520 in 2021 to 825 in 2022".
"By increasing the number of executions, Middle East-North Africa states have violated international law and shown a profound disregard for human life," said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty. "The number of people deprived of their lives has grown enormously: Saudi Arabia has incredibly killed 81 prisoners in a single day. In the second half of the year, in a desperate attempt to crush popular protests, Iran put to death people who had only exercised their right to protest," Callamard added.
"The use of the death penalty has remained shrouded in secrecy in several states - such as China, North Korea and Vietnam - however known for the extensive use of capital punishment: the real number of executions is therefore much higher. Although it is unclear how many times the death penalty has been applied in China, it is evident that it has remained at the top of the list of executions, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United States of America.
Faced with this situation - specifies the organization -, a "bit of hope comes from the six States that, in 2022, have abolished all or part of the death penalty. Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, the Central African Republic and Sierra Leone have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, while Equatorial Guinea and Zimbabwe for common crimes. By the end of 2022, 112 states had abolished the death penalty for all crimes and nine other states had abolished it for common crimes. (ANSA).