Nearly 900 people were executed in 2022 in 20 countries, a record level since 2017, criticizes Amnesty International in its annual report on the death penalty, denouncing the “killing spree” of some countries.
“The number of executions recorded in 2022 has reached its highest level in five years, as the main countries behind this record, in the Middle East and North Africa, went on a killing spree”denounces Amnesty International.
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The human rights organization counted 883 people executed in 20 countries in 2022, an increase of 53% compared to the previous year.
Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt
“This skyrocketing number of executions, which does not take into account the thousands more that probably took place in China last year, is mainly due to countries in the Middle East and North Africa, where the recorded figures have increased from 520 in 2021 to 825 in 2022”note Amnesty International.
The number of executions in Iran rose from 314 in 2021 to 576 in 2022, it tripled in Saudi Arabia from 65 to 196 (the highest recorded by Amnesty International in 30 years), while Egypt executed 24 people in 2022, the report says. Saudi Arabia “went so far as to execute 81 prisoners in a single day”notes Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
She accuses Iran, where “in a desperate attempt to put an end to the popular uprising, the authorities took the lives of people who had only exercised their right to demonstrate”.
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Amnesty International points out that the total number of executions worldwide in 2022 was actually “significantly higher”car “the secrecy surrounding the use of the death penalty still prevented it from being accurately assessed in several countries, such as China, North Korea and Vietnam”.
“Although the precise number of people executed in China is unknown, this country clearly remained at the top of the countries which executed the most. »
However, the report retains ” a glimmer of hope “ : Six countries have fully or partially abolished the death penalty in 2022. Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic have abolished it for all crimes, while Equatorial Guinea and Zambia l removed only for common law crimes.
