anti-death penalty campaigners are urging Arab governments to rethink their positions on state executions in the run up to a key vote in the United Nations

anti-death penalty campaigners are urging Arab governments to rethink their positions on state executions in the run up to a key vote in the United Nations. Emboldened by mounting Arab support behind the abolitionist cause, activists are increa
According to the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies, the Arab world has the highest concentration of nations supportive of the death penalty, with 70 per cent voting against the UN resolution compared to the global average of 28 per cent. A total of 77 per cent of Arab nations retain the death penalty, compared to 37 per cent of nations in the Americas and two per cent in Europe, giving the region the "highest proportion of retentionists in the world", according to the centre’s latest report. Only one Arab state, Djibouti, has abolished the death penalty.