INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Only 18 Countries Carried Out Executions in 2009

Amnesty International recent­ly released its annu­al glob­al report on the death penal­ty, cov­er­ing exe­cu­tions and death sen­tences world­wide in 2009. The report states that more than 700 peo­ple were exe­cut­ed in 18 coun­tries in 2009, and at least 2,000 peo­ple were sen­tenced to death. One hun­dred and sev­en­ty-nine (179) coun­tries had no exe­cu­tions last year. Countries with the high­est num­ber of exe­cu­tions were Iran (with at least 388 exe­cu­tions), Iraq (with at least 120 exe­cu­tions), Saudi Arabia (with at least 69), and the United States (with 52). These fig­ures, how­ev­er, do not include China​’s exe­cu­tions, where infor­ma­tion regard­ing the death penal­ty remains a secret. According to the report, China remained the glob­al leader with more exe­cu­tions than the rest of the world com­bined. The num­ber of peo­ple being exe­cut­ed around the world appears to be declin­ing. For the first time, there were no report­ed exe­cu­tions in Europe and no exe­cu­tions in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and Mongolia for the first time in many years. The U.S. was the only coun­try in the Americas to car­ry out an exe­cu­tion. Burundi and Togo abol­ished the death penal­ty in 2009. The United Nations General Assembly has called for a mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions. Click here to view the full report.

(Amnesty International, ​“Death Sentences and Executions 2009,” released Mar. 30, 2010). See also International and Studies.

To view a sam­ple page from the report, click on the image below: