[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 19


GLOBAL:

Majority of nations have halted executions


Q: How many countries in the world dont have the death penalty?  J.M.,
Raeford

A: Amnesty International says 129 countries and territories have abolished
the death penalty in law or practice.

According to the group, which opposes the death penalty, that figure
includes 89 countries that have abolished the death penalty for all crimes
and 10 countries that have abolished it for all but exceptional crimes,
such as war crimes.

It also includes 30 countries, which are considered by Amnesty
International to be abolitionist in practice because, while their laws
still permit the death penalty, they haven't executed anyone for at least
10 years and are believed to be against the practice.

Meanwhile, 68 other countries and territories retain and use the death
penalty but, Amnesty International says, the number of countries that
actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller.

Most of those countries and territories are in Africa, Asia, the Middle
East and the Caribbean. Sixteen of them are among the 50 least developed
countries in the world, according to the United Nations. The most
developed and economically significant nations that still use the death
penalty are the United States, China, India and Japan.

According to Amnesty International, 91 % of all known executions in 2006
took place in China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the United States.

The group said it estimates that at least 1,010 people were executed in
China last year (it says the actual figure may be between 7,500 and 8,000
people); 177 people were executed in Iran; 82 in Pakistan; at least 65 in
Iraq; at least 65 in Sudan; and 53 in 12 states in the United States.

(source: Catherine Pritchard, Fayetteville Observer)