Rights
Investigation
3,797 executed around the world in 2004
During
2004, more than 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries
and at least 7,395 were sentenced to death in 64 countries,
published in a press release of Amnesty International,
April 5.
Releasing
its annual worldwide statistics on the use of capital
punishment, Amnesty International called on the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights, currently meeting
in Geneva, to condemn the death penalty as a violation
of fundamental human rights.
"The
figures released are sadly only the tip of the iceberg.
The true picture is hard to uncover as many countries
continue to execute people secretly -- contravening United
Nations standards calling for disclosure of information
on capital punishment," said Amnesty International.
A
few countries accounted for the majority of executions
carried out during 2004. China executed at least 3,400
people, but sources inside the country have estimated
the number to be near 10,000.
Iran
executed at least 159, and Viet Nam at least 64. There
were 59 executions in the USA, down from 65 in 2003.
"Despite
the world-wide trend towards abolition, these figures
highlight the ongoing need for concerted action by the
international community to consign the death penalty to
history."
"It
is worrying that the vast majority of those executed in
the world did not have fair trials. Many were convicted
on the basis of 'evidence' extracted under torture."
In
2004, Ryan Matthews became the 115th prisoner in the USA
since 1973 to be released from death row on the grounds
of innocence. He had been sentenced to death in Louisiana
in 1999 for a murder committed when he was 17 years old.
His death sentence was overturned in April 2004 after
an appeal judge found that the prosecution had suppressed
evidence at the trial, and on the basis of DNA evidence
that pointed to another person as being the murderer.
While
executions continued, the abolition of capital punishment
advanced. Five countries abolished the death penalty for
all crimes in 2004 - Bhutan, Greece, Samoa, Senegal and
Turkey. At year end, 120 countries had abolished the death
penalty in law or practice.
Several
countries, while retaining the death penalty in law, observed
moratoria on executions. A law on "the suspension
of the application of the death penalty" was signed
into force in July in Tajikistan, and in January this
year President Aksar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan announced that
a moratorium on executions, which had been in place since
1998, would be extended for another year. Other countries
with moratoria on executions included Malawi and South
Korea.
Amnesty
International welcomed the United States Supreme Court
ruling in March this year declaring unconstitutional the
use of the death penalty against child offenders -- people
under 18 at the time of the crime. With this decision
all countries have now formally rejected the application
of the death penalty to child offenders. However, it remains
concerned that child offenders continued to be executed
in a few other countries. Iran executed at least three
child offenders in 2004, violating its obligations as
party to international treaties which preclude the practice.
China executed a young man despite concerns that he may
have been a juvenile when he committed a capital crime.
His execution was carried out while his lawyer and family
were still petitioning the Supreme People's Court to review
his case. Another child offender was executed in Iran
in January this year.
"It
is high time the Commission affirms clearly that the imposition
of the death penalty on those aged under 18 at the time
of the commission of the offence is contrary to customary
international law."
It
also welcomed the decisions of several countries to adopt
constitutional provisions precluding the death penalty.
In a survey of constitutional measures released, Amnesty
International reported that Turkey prohibited the death
penalty in its constitution in 2004, as did Belgium in
February this year. Other countries with recently enacted
constitutional prohibitions of the death penalty include
Ireland and Turkmenistan.
Source:
Amnesty International.
