An Eye for an Eye?

[Saj]

Do you agree with the death penalty ? Do you think its barbaric, cruel or its fully deserved?

Sometimes the judicial system can get it wrong and find the wrong person guilty.

Executions are known to have been carried out in the following 25 countries in 2006:

Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, North Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, the United States of America, Vietnam, Yemen

 

[Wiji]

Life sentences don't scare bad guys as much as death does. So yeah, I'm up for the death penalty. It serves the purpose much better than a life sentence. Of course it is barbaric, and it's cruel. But it's fair. Having said that, if it were in my hands, I would probably find it very very hard to enforce the death penalty in some cases.

On a side note, I've noticed in the media that people get thousand of years in prison in the West. Like in Spain today, one of the people involved in the Madrid bombings got a 40,000 year prison sentence. I never understood that. Can anyone explain ?

 

[12thMan]

I am for death penalty for some people. People/citizens should not be paying thousands to keep someone in jail year after year. Some of the punishments given like 5 consecutive life sentences are ridiculous

 

[Easa]

Life sentences don't scare bad guys as much as death does. So yeah, I'm up for the death penalty. It serves the purpose much better than a life sentence. Of course it is barbaric, and it's cruel. But it's fair. Having said that, if it were in my hands, I would probably find it very very hard to enforce the death penalty in some cases.

On a side note, I've noticed in the media that people get thousand of years in prison in the West. Like in Spain today, one of the people involved in the Madrid bombings got a 40,000 year prison sentence. I never understood that. Can anyone explain ?

So an execution can be barbaric, cruel, and fair at the same time? Please elaborate as to how that is even possible.

 

[161]

I am for death penalty for some people. People/citizens should not be paying thousands to keep someone in jail year after year. Some of the punishments given like 5 consecutive life sentences are ridiculous

yes let's kill people to save money .

 

[161]

well i think one thing that most of us agree on is that executions for minor drug offenses in countries like saudia arabia are just barbaric.

 

[Indiafan]

An eye for an eye and soon the whole world is blind - Mahatma Gandhi

 

[Hash]

I don't beleve in the death penalty under any circumstances. I don't believe the state or the courts have any right to decide when someone should die. It is a barbaric and evil system and it doesn't work as a deterrent.

 

[cricket_fan194]

I don't beleve in the death penalty under any circumstances. I don't believe the state or the courts have any right to decide when someone should die. It is a barbaric and evil system and it doesn't work as a deterrent.

If someone kills another person is that not barbaric? Death penalties are there to scare people, to set an example for the rest of the environment, to abstain from barbaric activities.

If in the back of the mind you know that you would be hanged if you kill someone you would think a few times before actually doing it.

Can anyone actually give some statistics (crime rates) of Saudi Arabia where this actual barbaric system is in place.

 

[waqar_ahmad]

Do you agree with the death penalty ? Do you think its barbaric, cruel or its fully deserved?

Sometimes the judicial system can get it wrong and find the wrong person guilty.

Executions are known to have been carried out in the following 25 countries in 2006:

Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, North Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, the United States of America, Vietnam, Yemen

that is a problem with the judicial system, not the death penalty.

Death penalty is required to cu down crimes, and if backed by a strong judicial system, it can achieve good results.

 

[waqar_ahmad]

If someone kills another person is that not barbaric? Death penalties are there to scare people, to set an example for the rest of the environment, to abstain from barbaric activities.

If in the back of the mind you know that you would be hanged if you kill someone you would think a few times before actually doing it.

Can anyone actually give some statistics (crime rates) of Saudi Arabia where this actual barbaric system is in place.

was about to post the same, the death penalty, in fact, any penalties have to be backed by a good strong judicial system. Otherwise they are useless.

 

[Hash]

If someone kills another person is that not barbaric? Death penalties are there to scare people, to set an example for the rest of the environment, to abstain from barbaric activities.

So because someone else is barbaric it is ok to be barbaric back? Not in my opinion it's not. Death penalties don't scare people....crime rates in America are still very high despite the death penalty being in place.

If in the back of the mind you know that you would be hanged if you kill someone you would think a few times before actually doing it.

Someone who is capable of killing another human being is not likely to think about the potential consequences. They either consider themselves invincible or they don't care.

Can anyone actually give some statistics (crime rates) of Saudi Arabia where this actual barbaric system is in place.

I don't know about crime rates in Saudi but I know that next to nobody is found innocent there. Unless you are a rich local, you are guilty...regardless of the evidence.

 

[the true passionist]

I agree with an eye for an eye but would advise to forgiveness by the people who have been wronged.

 

[Zeenix]

I agree. If court gets it wrong well there is a problem with the legal procedure. People think Islam is barbaric because it orders execution, however what they forget is that Islam has also allowed 'Diyaat' and also allowed the heirs of the deceased to forgive the convict totally.

And lets not forget that in Islam you can't give any punishment until and unless the guilt is ir-refutably proven, either by witness (again a checklist, not everyone can be a witness in Islam) or by self admission.

 

[kablooee87]

I agree. If court gets it wrong well there is a problem with the legal procedure. People think Islam is barbaric because it orders execution, however what they forget is that Islam has also allowed 'Diyaat' and also allowed the heirs of the deceased to forgive the convict totally.

And lets not forget that in Islam you can't give any punishment until and unless the guilt is ir-refutably proven, either by witness (again a checklist, not everyone can be a witness in Islam) or by self admission.

I don't believe Islam orders execution, does it?

Islam allows for capital punishment, but it is not mandatory for any crime.

 

[Zeenix]

I don't believe Islam orders execution, does it?

Islam allows for capital punishment, but it is not mandatory for any crime.

read execution as capital punishment, it slipped out of my keyboard

 

[Wazeeri]

MIG or mercs done this thread not so long ago

 

[from_da_lost_dim3nsion]

An eye for an eye and soon the whole world is blind - Mahatma Gandhi

i dont think the whole world would be too keen to pop peoples eye out

 

[Saj]

But does capital punishment act as a deterrent in those countries that still administer the death penalty?

 

[MIG]

I am curious that Bahrain is mentioned in there - havent heard anything about any executions for the last 3-4 years !

Saudi do this every weekend !! But the fact is that murders done in the heat of the moment are not effected by the death penalty - and the ones done in cold blood arent that many in these countries - people just dont have the time to plan an Agatha Christie type perfect murder....

I suppose the deterrent theory is fine but as I have always said ( and a lot of people recoil at this idea) - why not use these criminals ( rapists, child molestors, cold blooded murderers) for cancer research ?

 

[Wiji]

So an execution can be barbaric, cruel, and fair at the same time? Please elaborate as to how that is even possible.

Sorry, I meant to say the death penalty may 'seem' barbaric and cruel. But it is fair in most cases.

Somebody mentioned above that the death penalty for drug trafficking is over the top. I was just watching a documentary on youtube about the drug problem in Thailand and how they also carry out the death penalty now. Advocates of the death penalty argue that drug traffickers spoil not only the life of the drug abuser, but the very foundation of society, i.e. families, are destroyed in the process as well. In that sense, they are considered one the worst criminals of all in Thailand because it is considered a type of 'mass murder' because they ruin everyone's lives.

That is not my view, that is the view of the Thai policy makers. I think it is an interesting view though.

Here's the documentary. (It is actually about a famous prison in Bangkok).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy880cLxRvw

 

[Wazeeri]

So because someone else is barbaric it is ok to be barbaric back? Not in my opinion it's not. Death penalties don't scare people....crime rates in America are still very high despite the death penalty being in place.

The american legal system is probably the weirdest in the developed world. First of all the death penalty is not administered in all of America just in a few states. Secondly there are so many ways of getting away scots free that the actual guilty have nothing to worry about.

The problem is again with the administration not the idea of the death penalty.

I think it is more cruel to give someone a life sentence. Knowing that you are stuck in a 2 by 3 meter cell for the rest of your life is much worst a torment than a few hours of knowing you are about to die.

 

[akram_rejuvinated]

I am for death penalty for some people. People/citizens should not be paying thousands to keep someone in jail year after year. Some of the punishments given like 5 consecutive life sentences are ridiculous

nor should these prisoners do forced labor at a fourth of the minimum wage for a society that will never let them stand on their feet once they have served their time.

 

[akram_rejuvinated]

The american legal system is probably the weirdest in the developed world. First of all the death penalty is not administered in all of America just in a few states. Secondly there are so many ways of getting away scots free that the actual guilty have nothing to worry about.

The problem is again with the administration not the idea of the death penalty.

I think it is more cruel to give someone a life sentence. Knowing that you are stuck in a 2 by 3 meter cell for the rest of your life is much worst a torment than a few hours of knowing you are about to die.

on the contrary i feel the american legal system, though full of some archaic laws, is by far the most transparent legal system which fiercely defends the civil liberties of its citizens (operating word: citizen if you are a so called foreign combatant, your a** is screwed, literally and metaphorically). this statement was indeed reinforced by the fact that khalid shiek mohammed was found guilty but not guilty enough to deserve the death penalty considering how agitated the public was with his actions. the thing that i feel that is left wanting of the american legal system are:
1. redacting the death sentence
2. abolishment of the grand jury institution
3. reform of the drug laws
4. laws against discrimination of former convicts especially those who manage to secure parole.

as for the death sentence, i would like to quote mahatma gandhi: "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind". furthermore, the death penalty can (and has on numerous occassions in texas where they love to fry human beings) subject innocent human beings to a punshiment that is cruel and unjust. that in itself should serve adequate to repeal the death penalty.

i am however all for prison gladiator. or survivor: san quintin!

 

[akram_rejuvinated]

But does capital punishment act as a deterrent in those countries that still administer the death penalty?

statistically, the results are unclear. a conclusion either way does not have a high enough confidence interval.

 

[12thMan]

nor should these prisoners do forced labor at a fourth of the minimum wage for a society that will never let them stand on their feet once they have served their time.

I didn't understand this. How will they do forced labor when they can't come out? There are dumb sentences like 5 life sentence. And if they don't want to work after they come out it is their choice but it is against the law to hire people below minimum wage otherwise there is no minimum wage to begin with. If you are talking about when people are in jail, who is supposed to pay thousands it takes to keep someone in jail and they perhaps eat better food or 2-3 meals a day that quite a few outside don't get

 

[akram_rejuvinated]

i just found something: though the death penalty is never condoned in vedic and other hindu scriptures, there is a mention of administering the death penalty to a convicted killer in the "manusamhita" a book about laws for governing human beings. the rationalization (though inadequate in my humble opinion) is that for his/her crime a rather painful journey awaits the soul. it will have to suffer the tribulations of taking birth in the body of every organism that inhabits the earth before being reborn as a human being and can earn another opportunity to improve its karmic record and thus attempt to escape the cycle of rebirth and death. hence, to alleviate some of the suffering the soul will be soon subjected to, the death penalty which is the most severe form of suffering, helps offset some of the bad karma of the original crime.

sort of like, you did the crime, now do the time, but if you wish to reduce your time, prepare yourself for a particularly painful ordeal.

the important thing to note from this whole thing is that the death penalty is looked upon as a rather henious act and is considering the highest form of suffering. i.e. its is not considered fair.

 

[akram_rejuvinated]

I didn't understand this. How will they do forced labor when they can't come out? There are dumb sentences like 5 life sentence. And if they don't want to work after they come out it is their choice but it is against the law to hire people below minimum wage otherwise there is no minimum wage to begin with. If you are talking about when people are in jail, who is supposed to pay thousands it takes to keep someone in jail and they perhaps eat better food or 2-3 meals a day that quite a few outside don't get

the 5 consecutive life sentences arise from multiple convictions each of which carries a minimum sentence of a certain period such that the net sum of all convictions results in a sentence that is very long.

as for the labor, do you think prisoners sit in the prison cell all day playing cards? no! they are taken under considerable guard to do hard labor under punishing conditions and do not have the option of taking a day off. a number of tasks such as road payment, toxic waste disposal, shipyard maintenance, terraforming etc are done by prisoners. for this work they are paid anything from 50c an hour to about $3.00 an hour. and guess what, on top of being paid rather low, they suffer deductions such as "transportation, lodging and food".

but the worst awaits when they get out. statistically, after divorce, the most significant cause of poverty in united states is a criminal record. you dont get hired, credit is ruined, cannot take out a mortgage, and if you are indeed hired, you are legally required to disclose your past.

 

[Oxy]

Anyone know which country executes more people each year? I imagine its between USA & Saudi?

 

[akram_rejuvinated]

Anyone know which country executes more people each year? I imagine its between USA & Saudi?

i would imagine its united states. 90% of which occur in texas alone.

 

[12thMan]

Anyone know which country executes more people each year? I imagine its between USA & Saudi?

according to this it is Iran (don't know if it is accurate or reliable)
http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/overview.html

and here is one that says how many extra millions are spent in USA if prosecution goes for death penalty and not life sentance without parole and sometimes they will go for other sentence because of the costs
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108

 

[Vegitto1]

'Girl's killer trapped by his DNA 30 years later' after innocent man had been jailed

24.10.07
A child killer who escaped justice for more than 30 years while an innocent man was jailed has finally been caught by DNA evidence, a court heard yesterday.

Lesley Molseed, 11, disappeared in 1975 after her mother sent her to the shops near their home to buy a loaf of bread.

Her body was found three days later on the moors. She had been stabbed 12 times and sexually assaulted.


The following year, Stefan Kiszko, a tax clerk, was convicted of Lesley's murder and jailed, the court heard.

In one of Britain's most notorious miscarriages of justice, he spent 16 years in prison before being cleared in 1991.

But yesterday Bradford Crown Court was told that evidence which helped prove Mr Kiszko did not kill the schoolgirl, had been used to establish the guilt of Ronald Castree, who now stands in the dock charged with the murder.

Samples taken from her clothing at the time were found to match DNA taken from former comics dealer Castree, 54, it was claimed, when he was arrested on an unrelated matter in 2005.

Lesley, who had been born with a heart defect and was small for her age, disappeared on October 5, 1975, after her mother sent her to the shops in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, to buy bread and an air freshener.

Yesterday her mother, April Garrett told the court about her 'dainty' daughter and the Sunday morning of her disappearance.

The 70-year-old recalled how the girl could be "a little rogue, a little imp" but was also "enchanting, a little darling".

She told how Lesley, her brother Frederick, 12, and sister Laura, 13, took it in turns to go on errands in return for some pocket money.

When asked to go to the shops, Lesley pointed out it was her brother's turn, but he was out playing football.

"She said, 'Does that mean I'll get Fred's thruppence?'

"I said, 'No, you won't get Fred's thruppence – that would give you sixpence. How would you like me to give Fred your thruppence?'."

In the end, Lesley – wearing her sister's Bay City Rollers socks – agreed to go, taking a pound note to pay for the groceries and a blue shopping bag. But she never returned.

Her body was found three days later face-down on Rishworth Moor between Ripponden, West Yorkshire, and Oldham.

The following year Kiszko was convicted of Lesley's murder and jailed, the court heard.

But it was later established that sperm contained in samples taken from her clothing could not have been his, as he was infertile.

He was cleared in 1991, but died soon after.

By then, Lesley's clothing had been destroyed, but pieces of adhesive tape used to take samples from her underwear were retained.

In 1999 they were used to create a DNA profile, said Julian Goose, QC, prosecuting.

Following Castree's arrest on a separate, unspecified matter in 2005, he was found to be an "exact" match, he added.

At the time of Lesley's murder, Castree, then 22, was living threequarters of a mile from where she disappeared, the court heard.

He was working parttime as a taxi driver.

In 1976, Castree admitted the indecent assault of a nine-yearold girl, demonstrating his "propensity or tendency" to attack young girls sexually, Mr Goose went on.

On his arrest for Lesley's murder in 2006 Castree allegedly said: "I've been expecting this for years," although afterwards he claimed he actually said: "I was threatened with this years ago."

Mr Goose said Castree claimed he had been referring to an argument he had with two police officers in 1979 during which they said they would "fit him up" for Lesley's murder.

But the barrister said this was "illogical and absurd" given that Kiszko was at the time thought to be her killer and that Castree's semen could not have been taken from him to frame him without his knowledge.

"Lesley had been abducted from Rochdale and driven to the scene on the moors where she was sexually attacked and then murdered," he said.

"The man who carried out those acts had a sexual interest in young girls and, in a violent rage, killed Lesley Molseed in a frenzied attack with a knife.

"That man was definitely not Stefan Kiszko. The prosecution say that it was the defendant, Ronald Castree, who abducted, sexually assaulted and then murdered Lesley Molseed."

Castree, of Shaw, near Oldham, denies murder.

The trial continues.

Source: http://til.and.co.uk:89/news/article-23417882-details/'Girl's+killer+trapped+by+his+DNA+30+years+later'+after+innocent+man+had+been+jailed/article.do

My question to those in favour of the DP is how can you be 100% that the person is actually guilty of the offence? or in some cases, in the third world, he hasn't been paid or intimidated into confessing an offence he did not commit so the real culprits can roam free?

Had this man been hanged, how would you then apologise to him or his family? Where does that leave the integrity of the justice system?

 

[12thMan]

Had this man been hanged, how would you then apologise to him or his family? Where does that leave the integrity of the justice system?

his 30 years is enough to say about the system or mistakes can be made or forced. His life is over already. Me, I will take the injection instead of being in jail for 30 years. But then any one who has been in jail for 10-15 years on a wrong conviction (no death penalty involved) but was wrongly convicted - justify that. Should there be no jail but an island made for people who are accused?

 

[Wiji]

My question to those in favour of the DP is how can you be 100% that the person is actually guilty of the offence? or in some cases, in the third world, he hasn't been paid or intimidated into confessing an offence he did not commit so the real culprits can roam free?

Had this man been hanged, how would you then apologise to him or his family? Where does that leave the integrity of the justice system?

You can say the same about being wrongly imprisoned. That's a flawed argument in my opinion.

 

[the SHA]

An interesting exert from a fatwa from the late Sheikh Ahmad Ash-Sharabasi (a professor at Al-Azhar University):

"All lawmakers legalize self-defense, and they say it is permissible for one to kill a person who attacks him, if there is no other way. So in resisting the attack, man is compared to the society as it fends off aggression. That is, a murderer deserves death penalty because he has trespassed against the whole society by killing one of its members. So, when the society calls for death penalty for such a criminal, it is really in a state of self-defense.

Finally, as we see, death penalty is the best deterrent for criminals. In this regard, we’d like to quote Mr. Hafiz Sabiq, the former general attorney, who mentions that due to the defeat of China at the hands of the English army, Britain imposed on China a treaty called “Opium Treaty”. It stipulated that all the Chinese people, men and women, must be addicted to opium, so that addiction would become a characteristic of the Chinese, and this entailed great disasters. But, after the 1949 Chinese Revolution, the Chinese government passed a law stipulating death penalty to curb this crime. This led all the Chinese, men and women to give up addiction. Death penalty was the real deterrent for them, as the general attorney confirms.

This proves that death penalty is the best way to deter the criminals and protect the innocent. There is neither exaggeration nor injustice in implementing this penalty. Rather, it is a fair penalty."

LINK

 

[Wazeeri]

on the contrary i feel the american legal system, though full of some archaic laws, is by far the most transparent legal system which fiercely defends the civil liberties of its citizens

I never mentioned transparecy of cases but the fact that the American legal system can be manipulated by decent lawyers allowing the murderers/rapist to get away without punishment.

I read a quote on a survey in which it was found that an overwhelming majority of the Americans think that a measure of a good lawyer is someone who can fight a case for a criminal and win.

When people lose respect for the legal system you cannot expect them to be affected by consequences it offers for crime.

 

[Saj]

Noboru Ikemoto, a pensioner who had been convicted of killing three people, probably did not have any idea that his evening meal on Thursday was to be his last.
Seiha Fujima, convicted of killing five people while in his early 20s, will also not have known he was about to be taken to the gallows.

Japan does not tell death row prisoners that they are to be hanged until the last possible minute.

This has been condemned by the international community.

The failure to give advanced notice of executions is incompatible with articles 2, 7 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Human Rights, according to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

But it is arguably no more cruel than the conditions in which death row inmates are kept while awaiting their fate.

Some reports put the average amount of time a prisoner given the death penalty waits for the sentence to be carried out at seven years and 11 months. It is hard to get an accurate figure.

'Harsh regime'

Amnesty International says the inmates live under "a harsh regime and in solitary confinement with the ever-present fear of execution. They never know if each day will be their last."

Reports in the Japanese media describe how the men are kept in "toilet-sized cells".

Because they are awaiting execution, they are held mostly in detention centres, not prisons. They have fewer rights than other prisoners.


Cult leader Shoko Asahara is on Japan's death row
It is reported that they are permitted two periods of exercise a week (three times in summer) and not even allowed to do limited exercise within their cells.

Again it is hard to confirm what the conditions are actually like for each inmate - the nature of the regime is up to the director of each detention centre.

But many of those kept locked up alone for years are now getting older.

The oldest is said to be Tomizo Ishida, who is 86. He was convicted for rape and double murder in the early 1970s.

Some die before the sentence can be carried out.

In total there are 104 people on death row in Japan. So far this year nine have been executed.

Before 1998 the Ministry of Justice would not even confirm that executions had been carried out. There was simply an annual total released.

Only in the last 10 years has it released details of how many inmates were executed on a particular day.

Small step forward

Friday's executions were the first time it has announced the inmates' names.

Japan's Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama says this was done "to gain the understanding of the bereaved families of the victims and the public over the appropriateness of executions".

Amnesty International, while "strongly protesting" the decision to execute the three convicted murderers, acknowledges that the change in policy over the naming of those executed represents a shift towards more openness - but it adds that there is a long way to go.

There were no candlelit vigils outside the detention centres where the men were hanged - though this is not surprising since no one, not even their families, was told they were to die on Friday morning.

Critics of the process say that the still quite considerable secrecy surrounding the executions is not only cruel, it is stifling debate about the issue.

Lawmakers rarely raise the question of the death penalty in parliament.

Opinion polls suggest only 6% of Japanese people oppose the practice, though campaigners say this is because few people know much about the conditions in which the death row inmates are kept.

Friday's executions were not headline news here.

In other countries, opposition to the death penalty is often mobilised by Christian churches. But religious groups in Japan have chosen not to campaign on the issue.

Japan's foreign ministry was reluctant to discuss the circumstances surrounding the latest executions with the BBC.

It should be pointed out that Japan incarcerates a far smaller proportion of its citizens than Britain or the United States.

But critics of the justice system are concerned about its reliance on confessions. There are allegations that in some cases these are forced from suspects by police and prosecutors.

Those who oppose the death penalty here say there are not enough safeguards to prevent innocent people being put to death.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7132123.stm

 

[MenInG]

Saudi Arabia put to death 184 people in 2019 - a record number for the kingdom - despite a decline in executions worldwide, Amnesty International says.

The number of executions also doubled in Iraq to 100 last year, while Iran remained the second most prolific executioner after China, with 251.

However, global confirmed executions decreased for the fourth consecutive year to 657 - 5% less than in 2018.

It was the lowest recorded figure of the past decade, according to Amnesty.

The human rights group's tally does not include China, where the number of executions - believed to be in the thousands - remains a state secret.

It also notes that other countries, including Iran, North Korea and Vietnam, hide the full extent of their use of the death penalty by restricting access to information.

"The death penalty is an abhorrent and inhuman punishment; and there is no credible evidence that it deters crime more than prisons terms. A large majority of countries recognize this and it's encouraging to see that executions continue to fall worldwide," said Clare Algar, Amnesty's senior director for research.

"However, a small number of countries defied the global trend away from the death penalty by increasingly resorting to executions."

Recorded executions around the world, 2019
Not including China, North Korea, Syria and Vietnam*



*Official data unavailable or impossible to establish a figure. Amnesty International believes executions in China were in the thousands
Source: Amnesty International
Saudi Arabia's growing use of the death penalty was an "alarming development", she added.

The kingdom executed 178 men and six women in 2019, just over half of whom were foreign nationals. The total was 149 in 2018.

The majority were convicted of drug-related offences and murder. But Amnesty documented what it called the "increased use of the death penalty as a political weapon against dissidents from the Shia Muslim minority".

In April 2019, there was a mass execution of 37 people. All but five were Shia men convicted on "terrorism" charges after trials that Amnesty said relied on confessions extracted through torture.

Ms Algar also said the large jump in executions in Iraq - from at least 52 in 2018 to at least 100 in 2019 - was "shocking".

The rise was largely due to the continued use of the death penalty against individuals accused of being members of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).

In South Sudan, the authorities executed at least 11 people last year - the highest number recorded since the country's independence in 2011.

Yemen executed at least seven people in 2019, compared to at least four in 2018.

Bahrain and Bangladesh also resumed executions after one-year hiatuses.

Amnesty said several factors were mainly responsible for the global drop in recorded executions.

There were significant reductions in the number of confirmed executions in countries - such as Egypt, Japan and Singapore - that are strong adherents of the death penalty.

And for the second consecutive year, Iran executed fewer people than it had historically done, following amendments to its anti-narcotics law in 2017.

No executions were carried out in Afghanistan for the first time since 2010. There were also hiatuses in Taiwan and Thailand, both of which executed people in 2018.

Worldwide, 106 countries have abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes and 142 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52358476