ARCHIVE · DOCUMENT
AUGUST 3, 2012THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2011
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2011
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2011
(and the first six months of 2012)
The Worldwide Situation to Date
The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for more than ten years, was again confirmed in 2011 and the first six months of 2012.
There are currently 155 Countries and territories that, to different extents, have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 99 are totally abolitionist; 7 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 44 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. Countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or Countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).
Countries retaining the death penalty worldwide rose to 43 in 2011, compared to the 42 in 2010, only because the South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in July 2011, has retained the death penalty. Retentionist Countries, however, have gradually declined over the last few years: in 2009 there were 45, 48 in 2008, 49 in 2007, 51 in 2006 and 54 in 2005.
In 2011, executions were carried out in 19 Countries, compared to 22 in 2010, 19 in 2009 and 26 in 2008.
In 2011, there were at least 5,000 executions, compared to at least 5,946 in 2010, at least 5,741 in 2009 and at least 5,735 in 2008. The decline of executions compared to previous years is justified by the significant drop in executions in China, estimated to be down from about 5,000 in 2010 to about 4,000 in 2011.
In 2011 and in the first six months of 2012, there were no executions in 4 Countries where executions were carried out in 2010: Bahrain, Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Malaysia.
On the other hand, 4 Countries resumed executions: Afghanistan (2) and United Arab Emirates (1) in 2011; Botswana (1) and Japan (3) in 2012.
In the United States of America, no “abolitionist” State reintroduced the death penalty, but Idaho, with 1 execution in 2011 and 1 in 2012, resumed executions after a 17 years de facto moratorium dating back to 1994.
Once again, Asia tops the standings as the region where the vast majority of executions are carried out. Taking the estimated number of executions in China to be about 4,000 (about a thousand less than in 2010), the total for 2011 corresponds to a minimum of 4,931 executions (98.6%), down from 2010 when there were at least 5,855 executions.
In the Americas, the United States of America was the only Country to carry out executions (43) in 2011.
In Africa, in 2011, the death penalty was carried out in 4 Countries (in 2010 there were 6) – Somalia (at least 11), Sudan (at least 7), South Sudan (5), Egypt (at least 1) – where there were at least 24 executions. In 2010 there were at least 43 executions, in 2009 at least 19 as in 2008 and compared to 26 in 2007 and 87 in 2006 on the entire continent.
In Europe, the only blemish on an otherwise completely death penalty-free zone continues to be Belarus, where two men were put to death for homicide in 2011 while another two men were executed in 2012.
China, Iran and Saudi Arabia: Top Executioners of 2011
Of the 43 Countries worldwide that retain the death penalty, 36 are dictatorial, authoritarian or illiberal States. Seventeen of these Countries were responsible for approximately 4,952 executions, 99% of the world total in 2011.
China alone carried out about 4,000, or 80%, of the world total of executions; Iran put at least 676 people to death and Saudi Arabia at least 82; Iraq, at least 68; Yemen, at least 41; North Korea, at least 30; Vietnam, at least 17; Somalia, at least 11; Sudan, at least 7; Bangladesh, at least 5; South Sudan, 5; Palestinian National Authority (Gaza Strip), 3; Afghanistan, 2; Belarus, 2; Egypt, at least 1; Syria, at least 1; United Arab Emirates, 1.
Many of these Countries do not issue official statistics on the practice of the death penalty, therefore the number of executions may, in fact, be much higher.
This is the prevalent situation worldwide concerning the practice of the death penalty. It points to the fact that the fight against the death penalty entails, beyond the stopping of executions, a battle for transparency of information concerning capital punishment, for democracy, for respect of the rule of law and for political rights and civil liberties.
The terrible podium of the world’s top executioners is occupied by three authoritarian States in 2011: China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
China: Officially the World’s Record-holder for Executions (Despite a Continued Reduction)
Although the death penalty remains a State secret in China, some news in recent years, including declarations from official sources, suggest that the use of the death penalty may have diminished compared to preceding years.
A major turnabout came after the introduction of a legal reform on January 1, 2007, which requires that every capital sentence handed down in China by an inferior court be reviewed by the Supreme Court.
According to the US-based Dui Hua Foundation’s estimate, executions in China have dropped 50 per cent since 2007 to around 4,000 per year. Dui Hua based its number on estimates of a Chinese legal expert, Liu Renwen, law professor and director of Criminal Law Department of the Institute of Law under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who told a forum on the death penalty in Suzhou on 30 November 2011 that in the four years since the SPC regained the power to conduct final review over death sentences, the number of executions had declined by more than 50 percent. State media quoted Liu as saying in 2006 that an estimate of about 8,000 executions annually was “realistic.”
These data were confirmed during a major seminar on the death penalty, which was held from 1 to 3 December 2011 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The seminar was jointly organized by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assisted by the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and was attended by more than 30 Chinese scholars and officials – several of whom are believed to have access to statistics on death verdicts and executions.
The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) dealt with 11,867 cases of various types and concluded 10,515 cases in 2011, a decrease in respect to 2010 when the cases presided over were 12,086 with decisions reached in 10,626 cases. It can be safely presumed that the great majority of these cases are death penalty review cases, as the SPC doesn’t have jurisdiction over many other cases.
Under such circumstances, an approximate but realistic estimate would put the number of death sentences in 2011 – between definitive sentences and those suspended for two years – at around 9,400, a slight decrease from 2010.
On February 25, 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes and banned capital punishment for offenders over the age of 75 in a move seen as symbolic but unlikely to significantly reduce executions. China’s newly revised Criminal Law has reduced the number of crimes punishable by death from 68 to 55. The new rules came into effect on May 1, 2011. However, the changes would not bring down the number of people executed because it targets economic-related non-violent offences that have rarely, if ever, had capital punishment applied to them.
Iran: Still at Second Place on the Podium of Inhumanity
In 2011, once again, Iran has come in second in the bid for the highest number of executions and, along with China and Saudi Arabia, finds itself atop the loathsome awards podium of the champion Executioner-States of the world.
According to monitoring carried out by Iran Human Rights (IHR), an NGO based in Norway, in 2011, Iran carried out at least 676 executions, a frightening increase over preceding years, and with a sharp increase in executions held in public. On the basis of these same sources, Iran Human Rights had estimated at least 546 executions in 2010, and at least 402 in 2009.
IHR emphasizes that the actual number of the executions is probably much higher than the figures included in its annual report.
The execution of child offenders continued into 2011, in open violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which it is a co-signatory. At least 4 people were hanged, after being convicted of offences they had allegedly committed when they were under the age of 18. Two of them were under 18 years of age at the time they were executed. Two other juvenile offenders were executed in 2011 according to unofficial sources but IHR hasn’t confirmed their age yet. At least 2 juvenile offenders were hanged in Iran in 2010 and at least 5 in 2009.
In 2011, public executions have more than tripled, with at least 65 people being executed in public. This is the highest number in more than 10 years. Public executions have continued in 2012: as of 28 June, at least 31 public executions were held.
In 2011, Iran continued to apply the death penalty to clearly non-violent crimes. In September, three men were hanged in the Karoun prison of Ahwaz, after being found guilty of charges related to homosexuality.
The use of the death penalty for purely political motives continued in 2011. But it is probable that many of the people put to death for ordinary crimes or for “terrorism,” may well be in fact political opponents, in particular members of Iran’s ethnic minorities, including Iranian Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baluchis, and Arabs. Accused of being Mohareb – enemies of Allah – those arrested are often subject to rapid and severe trials that often end with a sentence of death.
At least 3 of those executed in January 2011 were arrested for participation in demonstrations against the fraudulent Presidential Election results of 12 June 2009, which saw the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
However, the death penalty is not the only punishment dictated by the Iranian implementation of Sharia. There is also torture, amputation, flogging and other cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments. These are not isolated incidents and they occur in flagrant violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that Iran signed and which expressly prohibits such practices.
Saudi Arabia: Executions Tripled
Saudi Arabia had among the highest number of executions in the world a few years ago, but in recent years the numbers have decreased considerably, thanks, in part, to some reforms in the penal system.
However, the number of executions in the Gulf Country tripled in 2011 compared with 2010. At least 76 inmates were executed in 2011, according to an Agence France Presse count, while Amnesty International believes that Saudi Arabia carried out at least 82 executions, including five women and 28 foreign nationals, during this period.
In 2012, as of 26 June, there were 45 people executed in Saudi Arabia, according to an AFP tally based on official reports.
Democracy and the Death Penalty
Of the 43 retentionist, only 7 Countries are considered liberal democracies. This definition, as used here, takes into account the Country’s political system and its respect towards human rights, civil and political liberties, free market practices and the rule of law.
There were 2 liberal democracies that carried out executions in 2011, and they accounted for 48 executions between them, 1% of the world tally. These were: United States of America (43) and Taiwan. In 2010 there were 4 (United States, Taiwan, Japan and Botswana) and they carried out 53 executions.
In Indonesia, 2011 was the third consecutive year without an execution since 2004, while India has not carried out an execution in seven consecutive years.
Botswana and Japan have however resumed executions in 2012.
United States: The Number of Death Sentences and Death Row Inmates Continues to Decrease
In 2011, there were 43 executions as compared to 46 in 2010. This is a reduction of 6.5% and 43 is the lower number of executions in the last 15 years.
Executions in 2011 took place in 13 of the 32 States with the death penalty: Texas (13); Alabama (6); Ohio (5); Georgia and Arizona (4); Florida, Mississippi and Oklahoma (2); Delaware, Idaho, Missouri, South Carolina and Virginia (1).
In the first six months of 2012, twenty-three executions were carried out in 8 States. In the same period last year, there were 25 executions in 9 States.
In 2011, 78 new sentences of death were handed down, a steep decrease from the past, when they never came under 100. In 2010, there were 114 and there were 112 in 2009.
As of 1 January 2012, there were 3,189 people on death row. As of the same date a year earlier, there were 3,261 people.
On 25 April 2012, the State of Connecticut abolished the death penalty, becoming the fifth State in five years, and the 17th in the United States, to do away with capital punishment. Illinois abolished the death penalty on 9 March 2011, and, in Oregon, the Governor declared a moratorium on all executions on 22 November.
To date, therefore, the death penalty no longer exists in 18 of the 53 U.S. jurisdictions (considering that, other than the 50 States, there is also the District of Columbia, better known as the nation’s capital city Washington D.C., the Federal Government and the Military Justice System). Of the 35 jurisdictions where it is still in effect, 8 have not carried out an execution in more than ten years. Among the remaining 27 jurisdictions, there are still moratoriums in effect that in the last few years have been brought about mostly because of considerations regarding lethal injection protocol.
An unforeseen event impacted dramatically on the practice of the death penalty in the United States in 2010 and 2011: first, the shortage and then, the absolute end of the production of Sodium Thiopental, also known as Pentothal. In January of 2011, the only pharmaceutical company authorized to produce and sell Sodium Pentothal in the United States, Hospira Inc. with its headquarters in Illinois, first decided to move its production facilities to an Italian subsidiary and, after an intense campaign conducted in large part by Hands Off Cain, decided to close down the operation definitively to avoid the risk that the barbiturate might end up in US penitentiaries.
Because of a scarcity of Pentothal or the imminent expiration date of supplies of the drug on a national level, many American States have been forced to suspend or postpone executions. Some States thought to buy the drug abroad (some lots were imported from Great Britain and India), but when it was discovered that because of existing laws these importations risked to be declared irregular, they, instead, modified their execution protocols by introducing the use of Pentobarbital, a common barbiturate, widely distributed and readily available in the U.S..
However, on 1 July 2011, the Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck Inc., which is not the only producer of Pentobarbital but the only one to have an American subsidiary licensed to produce the drug in the U.S., announced that it would create rigid checks on distribution of Nembutal [the brand name of Pentobarbital] to prevent it from being used for lethal injections in American prisons. Due to the shortage of both Sodium Thiopental and Pentobarbital, and while several appeals are pending in courts on any possible foreign purchase of such drugs, in May 2012 Missouri adopted the new drug, Propofol.
Besides the consideration of misplaced justice, which has been the subject of political debate in recent years, questions of the “cost of the death penalty” are coming to the fore. Studies have calculated that approximately 50% of the death sentences handed down eventually is transformed into sentences of life imprisonment after the appeals process. Other studies have shown, even in cases where the death sentence “holds,” keeping a person in prison for life costs twenty times less than keeping someone on death row for a few years and then putting them to death. On average, in the United States a death sentence costs between 1 and 3 million dollars, as compared to the 500,000 dollars a sentence of life without parole costs taxpayers.
The question of “cost” is bound to become more compelling in the years to come and, together with the question of errors of justice, should bring about important changes. In many interviews with politicians and in bills presented in numerous States, the problems related to the “cost of the death penalty” came under focus with consideration of an alternative: giving up on capital punishment, which usually involves people for which there is already ample proof for conviction and using the money saved to solve cases where criminals have yet to be identified.
Japan: Resumption of Executions in 2012
On 29 March 2012, Japan hanged three death-row inmates in its first executions since 2010. The men were hanged in three different prisons in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.
The hangings are only the second time the left-leaning Democratic Party of Japan has implemented the death penalty since it came to power in September 2009.
Japan did not execute anyone in 2011, the first year in nearly two decades the Country has not carried out a single death sentence.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, 2011 was the third consecutive year without an execution. The last executions, of Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra, took place in November 2008.
While few anticipate the moratorium will last forever, or that Indonesia will abolish the death sentence, there has been a discernible shift in attitude. Perhaps the best explanation for the new reluctance to carry out executions lies with a seminal ruling by the Constitutional Court in 2008, saying capital punishment should be used sparingly and those on death row should be given the chance to rehabilitate.
India
In 2011, for the seventh year in a row, India has not carried out a death sentence. India’s first reported execution since 1995 took place in Kolkata jail on 14 August 2004, when Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged for raping and killing a girl.
In 2011 eight commutations were decided by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, who has so far only cleared those mercy petitions wherein the Home Ministry has advised the commutation to life imprisonment. In the first six months of 2012, another twelve commutations were decided by President Patil.
President Patil was the most merciful of all presidents during the last three decades as she commuted death sentences of 38 petitioners to life imprisonment during her tenure, which is over 90 per cent of the total pardon granted. During her tenure, which expired in July, Patil rejected the petitions of only five persons, which include Rajiv Gandhi’s three killers – Santham, Murugan and Arivu; Khalistan militant Devinder Pal Singh who was convicted in 1993 Delhi car bombing and Mahendra Nath Das who had murdered a truck drivers association leader.
Taiwan
On 30 April 2010, Taiwan took up executions again after a five year de facto moratorium. Four death row convicts were executed for murder and kidnapping, in the island’s first cases of capital punishment since December 2005, when two men were put to death for murder in Taichung prison.
On 4 March 2011, another five convicts on death row were executed in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung.
Botswana
The number of executions, often carried out in secret, has always been low, one or, at most, two a year. There were no executions in 2004 and 2005. Between 2006 and 2010 there were five executions, one a year.
In 2011, there were no executions. Botswana resumed executions on 31 January 2012, when Zibani Thamo was hanged in the morning.
Europe: Death Penalty Free but for Belarus and Russia
Europe would be a death penalty free continent if not for Belarus, a Country that has continued to execute its citizens regularly, unlike many of the former Soviet-bloc States. In 2011, two men were executed for murder and another two were executed in 2012 for terrorism.
The situation in Russia is different for its commitment to abolish the death penalty as member of the Council of Europe, and for a 1996 moratorium on executions that is still in effect.
All other European Countries have abolished the death penalty in all circumstances.
Abolition, De Facto Abolition and Moratoriums
The worldwide trend towards the abolition of the death penalty by law and de facto of the last ten years was reaffirmed in 2011 and in the first six months of 2012.
After 2010, when 2 Countries became total or de facto abolitionist, another 3 joined the list in 2011 and the first six months of 2012.
As of April 2011, Guinea has gone more than ten years without practicing the death penalty, establishing itself as de facto abolitionist Country.
In January 2012, Latvia abolished the death penalty for all crimes.
In March 2012, Mongolia ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), concerning the abolition of the death penalty.
In July 2012, Benin has become part of the Second Optional Protocol on the abolition of the death penalty.
In the United States, the State of Connecticut abolished the death penalty in April 2012, and Illinois abolished it in March 2011. In Oregon, the Governor declared a moratorium on all executions in November 2011.
In 2011 and in the first six months of 2012, significant political and legislative steps towards abolition or at least positive signs, such as collective commutations of capital punishment, have been seen in numerous Countries.
In March 2011, the Maldives said is committed to maintaining a moratorium on executions with a view to formally abolishing the death penalty.
In September 2011, Suriname agreed on formalizing its longstanding non-use of capital punishment by abolishing all legal provisions for it.
In March 2011, Liberia insisted that it remained committed to honouring its international human rights obligations, including the abolition of the death penalty.
In March 2011, Mauritania has reiterated its commitment to a de facto abolition of the death penalty.
Nigeria continues to respect the “self-imposed moratorium” on executions in place since 2006.
In June 2012, the Government of Ghana accepted the recommendation of the Constitution Review Commission that the death penalty be completely abolished.
There were also a significant number of amnesties and commutations of death sentences in Ethiopia, Uganda, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Myanmar
Resumption of Executions
Regarding steps backwards, in 2011 and in the first six months of 2012, 4 Countries resumed executions: Afghanistan (2) and United Arab Emirates (1) in 2011; Botswana (1) and Japan (3) in 2012.
Some of these did so after years of suspension.
In February of 2011, the United Arab Emirates resumed executions after three years of suspension.
In June of 2011, Afghanistan resumed executions after two years of suspension.
In the United States, Idaho, with one execution in 2011 and one in 2012, resumed executions after a 17 years de facto moratorium dating back to 1994.
Sharia Law and the Death Penalty
In 2011, at least 898 executions, compared to 823 in 2010, were carried out in 12 Muslim-majority Countries (there were 13 in 2010), many of which were ordered by religious tribunals applying a strict interpretation of Sharia law.
Eighteen retentionist Countries look explicitly to Sharia law as the foundation of their judicial system.
However, the problem is not the Koran itself as illustrated by the fact that not all Countries that observe its teachings predominantly practice the death penalty, or make the text the basis of their penal or civil codes, or their fundamental law. It lies rather in the literal translation of a centuries-old text into penal norms, punishments and rules applied to our times, a transposition performed by fundamentalist, dictatorial or authoritarian regimes and used by them to impede any democratic progress.
Of the 47 Muslim-majority States worldwide, 23 can be considered abolitionist in various forms, while 24 retain the death penalty, of which 12 applied capital punishment in 2011.
Hanging, beheading and firing squad are the methods which were used to enforce the Sharia in 2011 and in the first six months of 2012.
Stoning
Of all Islamic punishments, stoning is the most terrible. It is meant to cause a slow torturous death. The condemned person is wrapped head to foot in white shrouds and buried in a pit. A woman is buried up to her armpits, while a man is buried up to his waist. A truckload of rocks is brought to the site and court-appointed officials, or in some cases ordinary citizens approved by the authorities, carry out the stoning. The stones used must be neither too large, or they may cause instant death, nor too small to be fatal. If the condemned person somehow manages to survive the stoning, he or she will be imprisoned for as long as 15 years but will not be executed.
In 2011 and in the first six months of 2012, there were no reports of judicial executions carried out by stoning or sentences of death by stoning issued.
In January 2012, Iran approved a new penal code which would ban execution by stoning for those convicted of adultery, but experts who have studied the new code questioned the claims that Iran had abandoned its use of stoning.
In July 2012, a Sudanese court sentenced a woman to death by stoning for adultery.
However, in 2011 and 2012, extra-judiciary sentences by stoning were carried out in Afghanistan in the zones controlled by the Taliban, in Somalia once again by the Islamic rebels Al-Shabaab, and in Mali at the hands of Islamic extremists who control the North of the country.
Hanging – But Not Only...
Of the methods employed to carry out death sentences based on Sharia law, the most common is hanging, preferred for men but used for women as well.
In 2011 and in the first six months of 2012, hangings carried out on the basis of Sharia law occurred in Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Sudan.
Hanging is often carried out in public and combined with supplementary punishments such as flogging and the amputation of limbs before the actual execution.
In Iran, hanging is often carried out by crane or low platforms to draw out the pain of death. The noose is made from heavy rope or steel wire and is placed around the neck in such a fashion as to crush the larynx causing extreme pain and prolonging the death of the condemned. On 12 July 2011, the Japanese crane company Tadano announced it would end contracts with the Iranian government following a “Cranes Campaign” launched by the association United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) that published on its website a list of eight international companies that send crane resources to Iran, with photos of the cranes being used as execution devices. In August 2011, another Japanese crane manufacturer, UNIC, announced the end of its business in Iran, joining Tadano and Terex in pulling out of Iran following UANI’s Cranes Campaign.
Beheading
Beheading as a “legal” means of carrying out executions provided by Sharia law is exclusive to Saudi Arabia.
The beheadings carried out in Somalia by Moslem extremists of Al-Shabaab are to be considered extra-judiciary.
In Saudi Arabia, typically, executions are held in the city where the crime was committed in a public place near the largest mosque. The condemned is brought to the site with their hands tied and forced to kneel before the executioner, who draws a long sword to cries of “Allahu Akbar!” (“God is great.”) from the crowd. Sometimes, beheading is followed by the public display of the bodies of the executed. The typical procedure of beheading provides for the executioner to re-fix the decapitated head onto the body of the executed, so that it may be hung, generally, for about two hours, from the window or balcony of a mosque or hung upon a pole, during midday prayers. The pole is sometimes shaped in the form of a cross, hence the use of the term “crucifixion”. The number of executions in the Gulf Country more than tripled in 2011 compared with 2010.
Firing squad
Not considered an Islamic punishment, the firing squad has been used in 2011 and 2012 in carrying out Sharia-based executions in Yemen and Somalia.
“Blood money”
According to Islamic law, the relatives of the victim of a crime have three options: to allow the execution to take place, to spare the murderer’s life to receive blessings from God, or to grant clemency in exchange for diya, or blood money.
In 2011 and in the first six months of 2012, cases involving “blood money” ended in pardon or death in Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
In Saudi Arabia, numerous cases involving “blood money” were resolved positively thanks to the Reconciliation Committee, a nation-wide organization that secures pardons for death row prisoners and helps settle lengthy inter-family and tribal disputes through mediation.
Iranian law provides that the “blood money” for a woman is half that of a man. Furthermore, if a man kills a woman, a man cannot be executed, even if condemned to death, without the family of the woman first paying to the family of the murderer half the price of his blood money.
Blasphemy and apostasy
In some Islamic Countries, the death penalty has been expanded on the basis of Sharia law to cases of blasphemy. That is, the death penalty can be imposed in cases of those who offend the prophet Mohamed, other prophets or the Holy Scriptures.
Non-Muslims cannot make attempts at converting Muslims to their religion and some Governments officially prohibit the performance of religious rites in public by non-Muslims. Conversion from Islam or renouncing Islam is considered apostasy and is technically a capital crime.
In Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, there are people on death row accused of witchcraft, apostasy and blasphemy.
In June 2012, Kuwait’s Emir refused to sign a bill passed by parliament stipulating the death penalty for blasphemy.
The Death Penalty for Minors
The execution of people for crimes committed before 18 years of age is a breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
In 2011, at least 4 (maybe 6) juvenile offenders were hanged in Iran.
In 2011, Saudi Arabia beheaded one person who was officially described as a “juvenile”.
In 2011, in Sudan and Mauritania, death sentences were handed down, but not carried out, in cases where the defendant was a minor at the time of the crime.
The “War on Drugs”
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) grants an exception to the right to life guaranteed in Article 6(1) to countries that have not yet abolished the death penalty, but only in relation to ‘the most serious crimes’. UN human rights bodies have declared that drug offences are not among the ‘most serious crimes’. The ‘most serious crimes’ threshold for the lawful application of capital punishment is also supported by UN political bodies, which clarified that by ‘most serious crimes’ it is intended only those ‘with lethal or other extremely grave consequences’.
Another concern is the presence in many states of legislation prescribing mandatory death sentences for certain categories of drug offences. Mandatory death sentences that do not consider the individual merits of a particular case have been widely criticized by human rights authorities.
According to 2011 Report, The Death Penalty for Drug Offences, produced by Harm Reduction International (HRI), thirty-two jurisdictions in all maintain laws that prescribe the death penalty for drug-related crimes, including twelve Countries that allow for mandatory capital punishment for certain drug offences: Brunei-Darussalam, Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
The prohibitionist ideology concerning drugs, dominant worldwide, once again made its contribution to the practice of the death penalty in 2011 and the first six months of 2012.
In the name of the war on drugs and as a result of increasingly strict laws, there were executions carried out in China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Death sentences were handed down but not carried out in Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Yemen.
The “War on Terror”
In 2011 and the first six months of 2012, numerous executions related to acts of terrorism were carried out in Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and South Sudan, while hundreds of death sentences were handed down though not carried out in Algeria, India, Lebanon, Mauritania and Yemen.
In the name of the war on terrorism and “legitimized” by the participation of the Great Coalition born out of the 11 September Attacks in the United States, authoritarian and illiberal Countries like China continue in their violation of human rights within their own Countries and, in some cases, have executed and persecuted people that, in reality, are only involved in passive opposition or activities that displease the given regime.
Persecution of Adherents to Religious and Spiritual Movements
In 2011 and the first months of 2012, repression of members of minority religious groups and religious and spiritual movements not recognized by authorities continued in China, Iran, North Korea and Vietnam.
In Iran, repression of religious minorities and spiritual and religious movements not recognized by the regime – in particular of the Baha’i, who are excluded from public life, discriminated against and harassed – continued in 2011. As of 29 March 2012, at least 27 believers remained detained across Iran because of their Christian faith. Following a series of raids in February and early March, five believers remained detained in Shiraz, three in Kermanshah and at least seven in Isfahan. Among those detained for more than one year are Youssef Nadarkhani, Noorallah Qabitizade and Farshid Fathi. One of them, Youssef Nadarkhani, was sentenced to death for apostasy.
In Vietnam, the repression of the Montagnards, the ethnic Christian minority from the Central Highlands, has continued to be particularly harsh.
Death Penalty for Political Motives and Dissent
In 2011 and the first months of 2012, death sentences and executions for essentially political motives were confirmed in Iran, North Korea and Vietnam.
The penal code of North Korea calls for the obligatory penalty of death for activities of “collusion with the imperialists” in an attempt to “subvert the struggle for national liberation.” People were reportedly condemned to death for such ‘crimes’ as “ideological divergence,” “opposing socialism,” and “counterrevolutionary crimes.” Political prisoners, peaceful opponents, deserters or repatriated defectors, those who listened to foreign radio broadcasts and those found in possession of so-called “reactionary” material have been shot.
The use of the death penalty for purely political motives continued in Iran in 2011 and the first months of 2012. However Human rights observers believe that many of the people put to death in Iran for ordinary crimes – particularly drug crimes – or for “terrorism,” may well be in fact political opponents, in particular members of Iran’s ethnic minorities, including Iranian Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baluchis, and Arabs. Accused of being Mohareb – enemies of Allah – those arrested are often subject to rapid and severe trials that often end with a sentence of death. On 24 January 2011, Iran hanged in Tehran’s Evin prison two political activists held during the 2009 presidential election unrest. Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei were executed early in the morning. They had allegedly visited their children who were staying at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, participated in the post-election protest demonstrations and sent pictures and reports of the demonstrations outside the Country.
Death Penalty for Non-Violent Crimes
According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, “In Countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes.” The ‘most serious crimes’ threshold for the lawful application of capital punishment is also supported by UN political bodies, which clarified that by ‘most serious crimes’ it intends only those ‘with lethal or other extremely grave consequences’.
Regardless, in 2011 and the first months of 2012, the death penalty for non-violent crimes, mostly of an economic nature, was handed down and carried out in China, Iran and North Korea.
Top Secret Death
Several Countries, mainly authoritarian ones, do not issue official statistics on capital punishment; therefore the number of executions may in fact be much higher.
In some Countries, such as China and Vietnam, the death penalty is considered a State secret and reports of executions carried by local media or independent sources – upon which the execution totals are mainly based – in fact represent only a fraction of the total of executions carried out nationwide every year.
The same is applicable for Belarus, where news of executions filters mainly through relatives or international organizations long after the fact.
In Iran, which carries out executions regularly without classifying the death penalty as a State secret, the main sources of information on executions are reports selected by the regime and carried by State media. These reports do not carry news of all executions, as evidenced by information occasionally divulged by individual citizens or by political opposition groups.
Absolute secrecy governs executions in some Countries, such as Egypt, Malaysia, North Korea and Syria, where news of executions does not even filter through to the local media.
Secret executions are being carried out in Iraq in the prisons run by Nouri al-Maliki’s government.
Other States, like Japan, Saudi Arabia and Singapore divulge news of executions after they have taken place with relatives, lawyers and the condemned people themselves being kept in the dark before the actual executions take place.
The “Humane” Lethal Injection
Countries that decided to abandon the electric chair, hanging or the firing squad for lethal injection as the preferred method of execution, presented this “reform” as a conquest of civility and a humane and painless way to execute the condemned. The reality is far different.
United States, the New One-Drug Solution
Lethal injection was used for the first time in the United States (and the world) on 7 December 1982, in Texas, with the execution of Charlie Brooks, 40 years old, black.
Its protocol has long remained unchanged, and is based on the succession of three drugs. The first, Sodium Thiopental, a fast acting barbiturate, acts as an anaesthetic to put the inmate to sleep. Its brand name is Pentothal. The second, Pancuronium bromide, then paralyzes the muscle system to the point of stopping their breathing. Its brand name is Pavulon, and it’s a derivate of Curare. The 3rd drug, potassium chloride, stops the heart. This last chemical product is so much diffused that does not have a single brand name.
Finally, after years of debate and appeals, doubts on the method of lethal injections made their way into the hands of the United States Supreme Court, which, on 16 April 2008, ruled that the cocktail of lethal substances used does not represent a “cruel and unusual” punishment and is, therefore, not unconstitutional. The Supreme Court recognized the risk of accidents and malfunctions, but argued that such problems always exist in any system. The Court stated that the Constitution protects citizens from “willingly” cruel and painful practices, but this does not mean that every practice of the State must be free of pain and risk. The amount of pain and/or risk involved in lethal injection, while being unpleasant and worthy of elimination, does not represent a violation of the Constitution, but is, rather, “inevitable.”
Most States still use a 3-drug combination for lethal injections: an anaesthetic. Numerous States have started procedures to modify their protocols from the three drug method to the single large dose of sleeping pills. As of 18 July 2012, five States have used a single-drug method for executions – a lethal dose of an anaesthetic (Arizona, Idaho, Ohio, Texas and Washington). Two other States allow for one-drug executions in their lethal injection protocols, but have not carried out a one-drug execution (Missouri and South Dakota).
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