Amnesty Condemns Widespread Misuse Of Death Penalty

London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International has flayed the blatant misuse of death penalty as a political weapon in several countries with China, Iran, Iraq and Sudan topping the list.

In its annual report on capital punishment, Amnesty noted that despite an overwhelming majority favoring abolition of the practice, its extensive and politicized use continued.

"Even as world opinion and practice shift inexorably towards abolition, the extensive and politicized use of the death penalty continues," it said.

Asia, the Middle East and North Africa accounted for majority of executions with 714 people executed in 18 countries in 2009.

Of these 366 people were executed in Iran, 120 in Iraq and 52 in the U.S. and the executions were carried out by "hanging, shooting, beheading, stoning, electrocution and lethal injection."

Saudi Arabia and Iran were criticized for putting to death juvenile offenders in violation of international law.

China is believed to have executed more people in 2009 than all the countries put together, but the actual figures are not available since Beijing maintains that it is a state secret.

Even though China claimed fewer executions since 2007 after the introduction of a mandatory review of death sentences by a higher court, Amnesty maintained that "evidence from previous years and a number of current sources indicates that the figure remains in the thousands."

"The Chinese authorities claim that fewer executions are taking place. If this is true, why won't they tell the world how many people the state put to death?," Claudio Cordone, Amnesty's Interim Secretary-General asked.

The Amnesty report particularly referred to the executions of Tibetans in the wake of the political unrest there, and those carried out in China's restive northwestern Xinjiang region.

Amnesty also expressed concern over the killing of a British national, Akmal Shaikh, executed for alleged smuggling of drugs into China and people sentenced to death for financial fraud there.

Saudi Arabia, which publicly beheaded at least 69 people in 2009, was carrying out executions "at an alarming rate," while there was a spurt in the number of Iranians sentenced to death in the aftermath of the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

Amnesty, meanwhile, reiterated its view about death penalty being an "affront to human dignity."

However, African States Togo and Burundi became 94th and 95th countries to abolish the death penalty and was hailed for doing so and no executions took place in Europe or the member states of erstwhile Soviet Union.

Iran and Iraq which are placed 2nd and 3rd on the Amnesty list were part of the famous "Axis-of-Evil" trio described by former U.S. President George W Bush during his State Of the Union Address in 2002.

Source: RTT News, March 31, 2010