Hands Off Cain presents the 2001 Report on the death penalty

Hands Off Cain will launch the 2001 Report on Monday, June 18, at its Rome headquarters. The report covers, country by country, news of executions, death sentences, declarations, and legislation introduced by each state.
Beyond the facts and figures, Hands Off Cain aims to turn the spotlight on the dark side of the death penalty, in China and other dictatorial regimes, and fight for a new human right: not to be killed by a legal decision.
At the launch of the 2001 Report, life on death row will be described by one who managed to leave it alive. Sakae Menda spent over 30 years on death row in Japan for a murder he did not commit. He was convicted mainly on the basis of a confession extracted from him by torture while in police custody. In 1983, in his sixth attempt at retrial, he was finally released.
Menda will be flanked by the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Magherita Boniver, Hands Off Cain Secretary Sergio D’Elia, the editor of the 2001 Report Elisabetta Zamparutti, renowned photographer Oliviero Toscani, and the MEP Marco Pannella.
The 2001 Report is dedicated to the Governor of Illinois George Ryan, the first Governor to introduce a legal moratorium on executions in the United States.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Hands off Cain is publishing an annual report on the death penalty.
The events registered in the last year reveal a positive trend for the abolitionist movement. As of now there are 124 abolitionist countries of various types: 77 are fully abolitionist, 13 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes, 29 are de facto abolitionist as they haven’t carried out a death sentence in at least ten years, 2 are engaged in abolishing the death penalty as members of the Council of Europe, and another 3 currently have a legal moratorium on executions. Seventy-two states still retain the death penalty.
There are alarming statistics from the 27 countries that in the year 2000 executed at least 1,892 people. China confirmed itself as the number one executioner in the world with at least 1,000 capital executions reported by both national and international press. Moreover, executions in Iraq, which are usually carried out after summary trials without due process of law, were at least 400 according to Iraqi authorities and the independent press, without taking into account the 2,000 executions reported by the opposition; in Iran there were at least 153 executions; 121 in Saudi Arabia, carried out by public beheadings and 85 in the United States.
Amongst the ten countries which carried out the most executions were Afghanistan with at least 30; the Democratic Republic of Congo with 20; Pakistan with 17; Liberia with 14; Jordan with 8 executions.
The figures are only estimates, except for Saudi Arabia and the United States, as many countries keep secret their activities regarding the death penalty so as not to incur international criticism.
These statistics are contained in the 2001 Report, to be launched on Monday June 18 at 11.00 a.m. in Via di Torre Argentina, 76. The presentation is open to the public, and the report will be available in Italian bookstores this week.