Executions around the world
You’ve heard this before: what do China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States have in common? They execute people. But executions around the world are down: 3797 in 25 countries during 2004, as opposed to 2148 in 22 countries last year. Amnesty International singles out Iran as the only country to have executed juveniles in ...
You’ve heard this before: what do China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States have in common? They execute people.
But executions around the world are down: 3797 in 25 countries during 2004, as opposed to 2148 in 22 countries last year. Amnesty International singles out Iran as the only country to have executed juveniles in 2005 and suggests China (where you can be executed for tax fraud) may be responsible for as many as 8000 executions, though the published figure is about 1770.
Iran’s total, 94, is slightly down from last year’s 159. Saudi Arabia executed 86 people in 2005, including some by beheading. USA put 60 to death, about the same as 2004. Other big offenders: Jordan, Pakistan, and Vietnam.
What methods do different countries use? Good question. Since 2000:
- Beheading (in Saudi Arabia, Iraq)
- Electrocution (in USA)
- Hanging (in Egypt, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Singapore and others)
- Lethal injection (in China, Guatemala, Philippines, Thailand, USA)
- Shooting (Belarus, China, Somalia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and others)
- Stoning (in Afghanistan, Iran)
Foreign Policy ran an unprecedented look inside Japan’s gallows last year (free registration required). Japan, where the death penalty is an increasingly popular sentence, keeps capital punishment completely shrouded in secrecy. Executions are only announced after the fact and prisoners don’t know the day they will die. It’s a fascinating and eerie account.
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