Entries tagged with “Amnesty International”
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Aug 27, 2024
68 Human Rights Organizations Express Support for Iranian Prisoners’ “No Death Penalty Tuesdays” Abolition Movement Entering Its 31st Week
Amidst a continued post-election execution surge and increased suppression of peaceful prison protests, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and 67 human rights organizations across four continents expressed their support for the ongoing “No Death Penalty Tuesdays” weekly hunger strike movement currently spanning 17 Iranian prisons across the country. The August 27, 2024 statement, published a day after the first public hanging of the year, “call[ed] for an immediate halt on all executions…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Jun 05, 2024
Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: China, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Zimbabwe
On May 7, 2024, Harm Reduction International (HRI) released a special global overview report on the use of the death penalty for drug offenses, which is a violation of international law because drug offenses do not meet the “most serious” crimes threshold. HRI found that by the end of 2023, there were 34 countries which still retained the death penalty for drug-related offenses; Pakistan was the only country to recently eliminate the death penalty for such offenses – the first country in more…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,May 30, 2024
Amnesty International Global Report (2023): Lowest Number of Countries Carried Out Highest Number of Recorded Executions in Nearly a Decade, Driven by Iran (74% of Total)
According to Amnesty International’s annual death penalty report for 2023, 16 countries carried out the 1,153 known executions last year, constituting the lowest number of executing countries on record with the organization but the highest recorded execution numbers since 2015. The 31% global increase in recorded executions is attributable to the 48% rise in executions in Iran (at least 853 executions), which accounted for 74% of recorded executions worldwide. Saudi Arabia came in second with…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Oct 12, 2023
Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Vietnam
October 10, 2023 marked the 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty. Regarding this year’s theme, “The Death Penalty, an Irreversible Torture,” Raphaël Chenuil Hazan, executive director of France-based abolitionist group EPCM, said “Today, we no longer need to demonstrate to anyone that the death penalty is a sophisticated form of torture, both in the phase of sentencing or investigation (where physical and psychological torture is often used to obtain confessions), where the elements of a…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,May 17, 2023
Amnesty International Global Report: Recorded Executions Highest in Five Years Reflects Increases in the Middle East and North Africa
According to an annual death penalty report by Amnesty International, 2022 saw the highest number of recorded executions since 2017, primarily due to increases in just a handful of countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The report also noted a slight decrease in the number of newly imposed death sentences worldwide. In its report, Amnesty says use of the death penalty in several countries continues to violate international law with public executions, executions of juveniles or those…
Policy Issues
International
,Time on Death Row
,Mar 20, 2023
INTERNATIONAL: Longest Serving Death Row Prisoner in the World Has Case Reversed
On March 13, 2023 in Japan, Tokyo’s High Court granted a retrial for Iwao Hakamada, a former boxer known as the “longest serving death row” prisoner in the world. He was convicted of murder in 1968. Hideaki Nakagawa, Director of Amnesty International Japan, described the ruling as a “long-overdue chance to deliver some justice to…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Dec 28, 2022
Zambia Becomes 25th Sub-Saharan African Nation to Abolish Death Penalty
Fulfilling a pledge made while campaigning for office, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on December 23, 2022 signed legislation abolishing the nation’s death penalty (pictured). Zambia’s repeal of its colonial-era capital punishment law made it the 25th sub-Saharan nation in Africa to abolish the death penalty. The new law also removed the offense of criminal defamation of the President from Zambia’s penal…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Dec 12, 2022
Iran Executes Two Prisoners Arrested in Ongoing Protests, Threatens More to Follow
In what human rights groups warn is just the start of a violent campaign of political repression, the Islamic Republic of Iran has begun executing protesters in the ongoing civil unrest following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini while in custody of the government’s morality…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Dec 05, 2022
Saudi Arabia Reneges on Pledge to End Death Penalty for Drug Crimes; Execution Spree Draws Condemnation from UN and Human Rights NGOs
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a coalition of more than 30 non-governmental organizations have condemned the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a series of executions for drug crimes carried out in violation of international law. Human rights organizations reported that Saudi authorities executed 20 men in November for drug offenses — 12 of them foreign nationals — after suddenly lifting a moratorium on executions for defendants convicted of…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Federal Death Penalty
,Jul 11, 2022
In New Report, Amnesty International Urges President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty and Commute All Federal Death Sentences
A new report by the human rights organization Amnesty International urges President Joe Biden to act upon his campaign pledge to work to abolish the death penalty by exercising his constitutional authority to commute the sentences of all federal death row…
Policy Issues
International
,Jun 12, 2022
Malaysian Government Pledges to End Mandatory Death Penalty
The cabinet of the government of Malaysia announced on June 10, 2022 that it had reached agreement to abolish the nation’s mandatory death penalty laws and submit legislation to parliament to provide judges discretion to impose other penalties for capital crimes. Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the cabinet also agreed to study proposals to substitute sentences for those currently on death row for offences carrying the death…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Sentencing Data
,Jun 06, 2022
Amnesty International: Mixed Global Trends on Death Penalty as More Nations Abolish and Record Few Conduct Executions, But Extreme Practices, Widespread Secrecy Reported in Outlier Nations
More countries abandoned the death penalty and a record low number carried it out, but extreme practices in a few outlier nations caused global executions to rise in 2021, according to the human rights group Amnesty…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,May 31, 2022
Zambia, Central African Republic Move to Abolish Death Penalty
Two more African nations have taken major steps towards abolishing the death…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,May 23, 2022
Western Democracies, Human Rights Groups Denounce Belarus’ Use of Death Penalty to Target Political Opponents and Anti-War Activists
The U.S. State Department and the European Union have joined human rights and pro-democracy advocates in condemning the expansion of the death penalty in Belarus to include non-lethal “attempted acts of terrorism,” calling the measure an act of repression against opponents of the nation’s autocratic regime and its assistance to the Russian invasion of neighboring…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,Intellectual Disability
,International
,Apr 07, 2022
Singapore Resumes Hangings for Drug Offenses, Provoking Outrage, Rare Public Protest
In a move sharply criticized by rights advocates as a violation of international human rights law, Singapore has resumed executions for non-violent drug…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Nov 15, 2021
Death-Row Prisoners in Japan Sue Over Same-Day Notice of Executions
Two Japanese death-row prisoners have filed a lawsuit alleging that the country’s long-criticized practice of notifying prisoners of their execution the same day they are to be put to death is “inhumane” and violates the nation’s…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Apr 21, 2021
Amnesty International Global Report: Executions Worldwide Fewest in a Decade, Death Sentences Fall More Than One Third in 2020
Fewer executions were carried out across the world in 2020 than at any time in a decade and new death sentences fell by more than a third, according to a new report by Amnesty International. It was the third consecutive year in which confirmed executions reached a 10-year low, and the sixth year in a row in which confirmed executions declined, Amnesty…
State & Federal Info
Federal Death Penalty
,Feb 09, 2021
More Than 80 Civil Rights and Advocacy Organizations Urge President Biden to End Federal Executions
A coalition of 82 civil rights and advocacy organizations have called on President Joe Biden to honor his campaign promise of “ensuring equality, equity, and justice in our criminal legal system” by taking executive action to end federal executions. The groups, led by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, asked Biden to commute the sentences of everyone on federal death row, dismantle the federal death chamber, rescind the federal execution…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Sep 29, 2020
Kazakhstan Signs Global Treaty to Abolish Death Penalty
The Republic of Kazakhstan has joined the ranks of nations that have formally committed to abolishing the death…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Secrecy
,Apr 22, 2020
Amnesty International Report: Confirmed Executions and Death Sentences Continue Global Decline, But Secrecy Hinders Accurate Assessment of Trends
Executions across the globe fell 5% worldwide in 2019 to the fewest in more than a decade, despite a record number of executions in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International reported in the human rights organization’s Global Report: Death Sentences and Executions in…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,Juveniles
,Apr 25, 2019
Saudi Arabia Condemned for Mass Execution of 37 People, Including Juveniles, After Unfair Trials
In an action condemned by the United Nations and human rights groups as a flagrant violation of international law, Saudi Arabia beheaded 37 people, including juvenile offenders, in six separate locations on April 23, 2019. It was the nation’s largest mass execution since January 2016. Most of the people executed were members of the Shi’a Muslim minority community. The human rights advocates blasted Saudi officials for targeting politically disfavored groups and disregarding…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,International
,DPIC Reports
,Apr 10, 2019
Amnesty International 2018 Global Report: Executions Worldwide Fall to Lowest Level in a Decade
Executions worldwide have fallen to their lowest levels in a decade, according to a new report released April 9, 2019 by Amnesty…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Human Rights
,Intellectual Disability
,Mental Illness
,Race
,Aug 28, 2018
Amnesty International Issues Report on the Death Penalty in Florida
A new report by Amnesty International says Florida’s approach to redressing the nearly 400 unconstitutional non-unanimous death sentences imposed in the state has deepened its status as an outlier on death-penalty issues by “add[ing] an extra layer of arbitrariness to [the state’s] already discriminatory and error-prone capital justice…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,Intellectual Disability
,International
,Juveniles
,Mental Illness
,Apr 12, 2018
Amnesty International Report: Death Penalty Use Down Worldwide in 2017
Use of the death penalty declined worldwide in 2017, according to the Amnesty International’s annual global report on capital…
Policy Issues
International
,Secrecy
,Apr 11, 2017
Amnesty International Report: U.S. Falls to 7th in Executions Amidst 37% Global Decline
Executions worldwide fell by 37% in 2016, according to the annual Amnesty International Global Report on Death Sentences and Executions, released on April 11,…
Policy Issues
International
,Apr 06, 2016
Amnesty International Reports Concentrated Spikes in Executions Amidst Continuing Trend Towards Global Death Penalty Abolition
Amnesty International reported that worldwide executions spiked by 54% to at least 1,634 — a 25-year high — in 2015, even as the number of countries abolishing the death penalty reached record…
Policy Issues
International
,Apr 01, 2015
Amnesty International Reports Worldwide Decline in Executions
Executions around the world declined by 22% last year, according to Amnesty International’s 2014 annual report on death sentences and executions. The report — released on April 1 — indicates that an estimated 607 people were executed worldwide in 2014, compared to 778 in 2013. The global totals do not include executions in China, where data on the death penalty is considered a state secret. On a regional level, Amnesty reported notable declines in Sub-Saharan Africa, where…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,Foreign Nationals
,Apr 01, 2003
Amnesty International: Violation of the Rights of Foreign Nationals Under Sentence of Death
More than 60 foreign citizens representing 22 nationalities are under sentence of death in the United States of America (USA). In virtually every case, the arresting authorities failed to notify detained foreigners of their right to communicate with their consular representatives. As a consequence, foreign nationals confronted by an unfamiliar legal system were tried and sentenced to death without the benefit of the crucial support from the authorities of their native countries. Since 1993,…