Photo/Illutration Executions are carried out in the death chamber at right when correctional officers press buttons on the wall of an adjacent room at the Tokyo Detention House. (Pool)

At least 1,518 executions were carried out worldwide in 2024, up 32 percent from the year before, according to Amnesty International.

The human rights group said Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq put more people to death than ever last year. The number of countries that reported carrying out executions stood at 15, a record low, it added.

The group’s April 8 report also touched upon the high-profile case of Iwao Hakamata, a former death row inmate in Japan who was exonerated in a retrial last year after serving 48 years in prison.

The annual document listed China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen as the countries that carried out the most executions.

It described China as “the world’s lead executioner.”

Figures for China, North Korea and Vietnam were estimates because they do not disclose death penalty statistics. Only two confirmed executions from these countries were included in the 2024 report.

Based on the known figures, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq accounted for 91 percent of all executions around the world.

Drug-related offences accounted for 42 percent of capital punishment cases. China, Iran and Saudi Arabia put more people to death than other countries for drug trafficking and drug use.

Amnesty, noting that the International Covenants on Human Rights stipulates the death sentence should be imposed only for the “most serious crimes,” took issue with those countries for using the death penalty in drug cases. It said they were “violating international law.”

It also condemned countries, including Japan, for handing the death sentence to people suffering from mental or intellectual disabilities, which it called a violation of international law.

WORLD WITNESSED HAKAMATA’S VICTORY

The number of countries that still carry out executions stood at 15, down one from 2023 and the lowest on record, according to Amnesty International.

Armed conflict made it impossible to maintain records for Palestine, which is believed to execute people on a continual basis.

According to the report, 145 countries, or three-quarters of all countries and territories, had fully or virtually abolished the death penalty by the end of 2024.

Japan, which keeps capital punishment on its books while the government maintains it has overwhelming “public support” for the practice, has not carried out a hanging since July 2022. This marks the longest hiatus since the Justice Ministry in 2007 began publicly releasing the names and other details of those executed.

Referring to Hakamata as “the world’s longest-serving person on death row,” the report emphasized that prosecutors repeatedly filed motions against a retrial, which meant it took “close to 10 years” for the process to begin.

The report lambasted Japan for “still seeking the death penalty as a possible punishment” during the retrial.

Amnesty International, referring to the street across Japan calling for Hakamata’s release, said “the world witnessed the power of campaigning” when Hakamata was acquitted after a retrial in 2024.

“It is evident that the states that retain the death penalty are an isolated minority,” said Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International. “This signals a move away from this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.”

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