The Death Penalty: China Still top Executioner; Appeals to Abolish Death Penalty

August 6, 2009
Activists,
1. Article: New report: China remains world's top executioner
by Marta Falconi, Associated Press, July 29, 2009 (Yahoo!News)
2. Report from Hands Off Cain showing the vast majority of executions in the world are in China and that the United States has failed to stop executing people like many other progressive countries in the world; particularly almost all the nations of Europe.
3. appeal to support the United Nations, Hands Off Cain and other Organizations working to Abolish the Death Penalty Worldwide.

A new report has been issued by the Italian organization,
www.HandsOffCain.info. The website has various actions
to help show our support for banning the death penalty worldwide. Much progress has been mde in recent years, with more countries deciding not to continue executions.

Also the rights of the child are taken up by Hands Off Cain
and the United Nations.

America would be practically death-penalty free were it not for the United States and Saint Kitts and Nevis, the only two countries on the continent to execute anyone in 2008, respectively 37 and 1 condemned put to death.

In Europe, the only blemish on an otherwise completely death penalty-free zone continues to be Belarus, where, at least 4 executions were held in 2008.

We see that, once again, the United States lags behind Europe and other progressive countries by continuing executing people and disregarding arguments worldwide for banning this inhumane treatment of human beings. 151 countries have abolished the death penalty and can thus lobby for other countries - especially China - to stop killing people. The United States could help lead the way except by continuing the practice itself it would appear hypocritical to do so.

Let us call for the Obama Administration, Congress and
the State Department to take up the issue of
Ending the Death Penalty in the United States, as soon as possible.

Let us lend our support to the United Nations, Hands Off Cain and other organizations, like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, working to abolish the death penalty around the world.

arn specter, phila
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New report: China remains world's top executioner
By MARTA FALCONI (AP) – Jul 29, 2009

ROME — The number of prisoners put to death worldwide decreased in 2008, a human rights group said Wednesday, adding that China retained its position as the world's top executioner.

Executions in the United States were down from last year, while Iran and Saudi Arabia appeared near the top of the list of the world's top executioners, the anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain said in a report about 2008 and the first six months of this year.

The group said that at least 5,727 executions were carried out in 2008, down from 5,851 the year before. It said that 46 countries retained the death penalty last year, three fewer than in 2007, with Burundi and Uzbekistan abolishing capital punishment, and Sierra Leone establishing itself as a de facto abolitionist by not having carried out any executions for more than 10 years.

The report said China accounted for at least 5,000 executions — or 87.3 percent of the total — the same estimate as last year.

That estimate is far greater that on given earlier this year by Amnesty International, an international human rights group. Amnesty said China put at least 1,718 people to death in 2008. Read more.

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The Worldwide Situation to Date
(excerpts from extensive report by Hands Off Cain, Italy)
The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for at least a decade, was again confirmed in 2008 and the first six months of 2009.
There are currently 151 countries and territories that to different extents have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 96 are totally abolitionist; 8 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 42 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).
Countries retaining the death penalty worldwide are down to 46, compared to the 49 retentionists in 2007, 51 in 2006 and 54 in 2005.
In 2008, the number of countries resorting to the death penalty was 26, as in 2007 and compared with 28 in 2006.
The gradual abandonment of the death penalty is also evident in the declining use of capital punishment by the countries that still maintain death as the maximum penalty for criminal acts. At least 5,727 executions were carried out in 2008 down from a minimum of 5,851 in 2007.
In 2008 and in the first six months of 2009, there were no executions in 3 countries where executions were carried out in 2007: Ethiopia (1), Equatorial Guinea (3) and Kuwait (at least 1). On the other hand, 3 countries resumed executions: The United Arab Emirates (at least 1) and Bahrain (1) which hadn’t carried out an execution since 2007; Saint Kitts and Nevis (1) after ten years of suspension.

Once again, Asia tops the standings as the region where the vast majority of executions are carried out. Taking the estimated number of executions in China to be at least 5,000 (more or less equal to the number in 2007 but diminished in respect to preceding years), the total for 2008 corresponds to a minimum of 5,666 executions (98.9%), down from a minimum of 5,782 in 2007.
America would be practically death-penalty free were it not for the United States and Saint Kitts and Nevis, the only two countries on the continent to execute anyone in 2008, respectively 37 and 1 condemned put to death.
In Africa, in 2008, the death penalty was carried out in only 5 countries – Botswana (at least 1), Egypt (at least 2), Libya (at least 8), Somalia (at least 3), and Sudan (at least 5) – where there were at least 19 executions as compared to 26 in 2007 and 87 in 2006 on the entire continent. It should be noted that Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea, which executed one and three condemned respectively in 2007, carried out no executions in 2008.
In November 2008, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) called for a moratorium on executions and the ratification of the UN Protocol for the abolition of the death penalty.
In Europe, the only blemish on an otherwise completely death penalty-free zone continues to be Belarus, where, at least 4 executions were held in 2008. There was at least 1 in 2007 and, according to OSCE records, there were at least 3 executions in 2006 and 4 in 2005.

China, Iran and Saudi Arabia: Top Executioners of 2008

Of the 46 countries worldwide that retain the death penalty, 36 are dictatorial, authoritarian or illiberal States. Twenty of these countries were responsible for approximately 5,662 executions, about 98.9% of the world total in 2008.
China alone carried out at least 5,000, or 87.3%, of the world total of executions; Iran put at least 346 people to death and Saudi Arabia 102; North Korea, at least 63; Pakistan, at least 36; Iraq, at least 34; Vietnam, at least 19; Afghanistan, at least 17; Yemen, at least 13; Libya, at least 8; Sudan, at least 5; Bangladesh, 5; Belarus, 4; Somalia, at least 3; Egypt, at least 2; Bahrain, 1; The United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Singapore and Syria, at least 1.
Many of these countries do not issue official statistics on the practice of the death penalty; therefore the number of executions may in fact be much higher.
This is the prevalent situation worldwide concerning the practice of the death penalty. It points to the fact that the fight against the death penalty entails, beyond the stopping of executions, a battle for democracy, for the respect of the rule of law and for political rights and civil liberties.
The terrible podium of the world’s top executioners is again taken by three authoritarian States in 2008: China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

China: Officially the World’s Record-holder for Executions (Despite a Significant Reduction)

Hands Off Cain estimates that there were at least 5,000 executions in China in 2008, more or less unchanged from 2007, but diminished in respect to previous years.

The Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that works on behalf of political prisoners and monitors Chinese prisons, estimated that “the number of executions in 2008 exceeded 5,000 and may have been as high as 7,000.” According to the Foundation, run by business executive-turned-human-rights advocate John Kamm – who still maintains good relations with government officials – about 6,000 people were executed in 2007, a 25 to 30 percent drop from 2006, in which estimates reported at least 7,500 executions – the result, according to Kamm, of the 2008 Olympic Games being held in Beijing.
In any event, statistics and percentages are of little value as all aspects of capital punishment remain a State secret including the actual number of death sentences and executions in 2008 and in years prior.

(remainder of report at www.handsoffcain.info )

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