Dec. 3
GLOBAL:
134 Nations Drop Death Penalty; 62 Still Have It
A total of 134 countries have given up capital punishment, 10 more than
had done so at the start of 2003, a campaigner against capital punishment
reported on Friday.
Of the total, 81 have abolished the death penalty completely, 14 have
abolished it for ordinary crimes, one -- Russia -- has pledged to abolish
it, and 6 are observing moratoriums, the Rome-based organization Hands Off
Cain said.
Another 32 countries allow capital punishment but have in effect abolished
it by not carrying out an execution for at least the past 10 years, the
group said.
Since the start of 2003, Benin, Ghana, Malawi and Morocco had in effect
abolished the practice by not executing anyone for at least 10 years while
Kazakhstan and Tajikistan had put in place a legal moratorium on the
practice, it said.
Another 4 countries -- Bhutan, Samoa, Bosnia and Armenia -- either
abolished the death penalty or tightened an existing partial ban since the
start of last year, the group reported at a presentation at U.N.
headquarters.
In all, 62 countries retain the death penalty and in 2003 put to death at
least 5,523 individuals, the group said.
One country alone, China, executed at least 5,000 people last year while
Iran put to death at least 154 and Iraq had executed at least 113 people
by April 9, 2003, when the U.S.-led occupation suspended the death
penalty, it said.
(source: Reuters)
