China, Iran, Saudi, U.S. main executioners -Amnesty

[cal04]

More than 2,000 people were known to have been executed around the world last year, the vast majority of them in China, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

In its annual report on executions, the rights group said about 1,770 executions were reported to have been carried out in China in 2005, but added the real figure was undoubtedly much higher, noting a Chinese legal expert had been quoted as saying the true figure was about 8,000. More than 20,000 people were on death row around the world, said the report, which repeated a call for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty.

Amnesty said at least 2,148 people were executed in 2005 in 22 countries -- 94 percent of them in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States. That's down from 3,797 executions in 2004, but up from 1,146 in 2003. "The death penalty is the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights, because it contravenes the essence of human values, it is often applied in a discriminatory manner, follows unfair trials or is applied for political reasons,"

Amnesty International Secretary-General Irene Khan said in a statement. At least 94 people were executed in Iran, 86 in Saudi Arabia and 60 in the United States. "As the world continues to turn away from the use of the death penalty, it is a glaring anomaly that China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the U.S. stand out for their extreme use of this form of punishment," Khan said. China has carried out executions by shooting or lethal injection, Saudi Arabia by beheading, Iran by hanging or stoning and the United States by electrocution or lethal injection, Amnesty said.



http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=594922006

[bemildred]

1. Great company we are in, eh? nt

[rodeodance]

2. yeah, good countries to be lumped into with. NOT

[fujiyama]

3. The US

also joined with the same thug nations when it came to human rights for gays and lesbians.