Overview of the death penalty worldwide in 2007.

The use of capital punishment accelerated during 2007 and led to at least 691 executions in 20 countries (up from 518 executions in 19 countries during 2006).  These are reported and verified executions, but there are additionally estimated to be 470 in China and there may have been unreported ones in Singapore, which nowadays seldom publicises the names of those executed. Details of executions are very hard to verify in some countries because of the official secrecy surrounding them.  Amnesty International claims that 1,591 people were executed in 2006 and 1,252 people in 2008.

The countries in which verifiable executions took place during 2007 were :

Country

Shooting

Hanging

Beheading

Injection

Afghanistan

15

 

 

 

America *

 

 

 

42

Bangladesh

 

6

 

 

Belarus

1

 

 

 

Botswana

 

1

 

 

China

470 estimated

Ethiopia

1

 

 

 

Indonesia

1

 

 

 

Iran

 

265

 

 

Iraq

 

29

 

 

Japan

 

9

 

 

Kuwait

 

1

 

 

North Korea

8

 

 

 

Pakistan

 

135

 

 

Saudi Arabia

 

 

156

 

Singapore

 

2

 

 

Somalia

 

3

 

 

Sudan

 

2

 

 

Syria

 

5

 

 

Yemen

7

 

 

 

Totals

37

458

155

41+

* 1 execution in America was by electrocution. 
For the names, dates and crimes of those executed click here

Methods used.
Executions by shooting were carried out in Belarus, Indonesia, North Korea, Somalia and Yemen. China continues to use shooting which is carried out by a single bullet to the back of the head.  It is not known how many of the estimated 470 prisoners were killed by this method.  Indonesia, North Korea and Somalia use conventional firing squads.  Yemen lays the prisoner on the ground and a single executioner shoots them with an automatic rifle. Somalia also uses a single executioner with an automatic rifle.

Hanging has become much more widely used during 2007 – some 454 men and 4 women being hanged in 10 countries. These being Bangladesh, Botswana, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Singapore, Sudan and Syria. Singapore does not report executions and the figure above represents only the known one.  The figure for Pakistan is estimated at 135.
Public and private hangings took place in Iran, all the rest being in private. 
With the exception of Iran, the other countries listed gave the prisoner a drop.  In Iran hangings are carried out using either a short drop or by hoisting the prisoner into the air (used at least for public hangings).

Saudi Arabia publicly beheaded 153 men and 3 women for murder and drug offences during 2007, the highest number ever recorded there. Saudi Arabia is the only country that normally uses beheading.

Lethal injection was used for 41 executions in America, but has been suspended from the end of September 2007, waiting a decision by the Supreme Court in January 2008 on whether the drugs used may cause the prisoner severe suffering which would be against the Constitution.
It used in some Chinese cities and provinces, around half of the 404 Intermediate Peoples’ Courts have now adopted this method, although no figures are available and where executions are reported, the method used generally is not.  Guatemala, Taiwan and Thailand, the other three countries that use lethal injection, carried out no executions in 2007. 

One man in the American state of Tennessee elected to die in the electric chair.  (Daryl Holton 12/09/2007) Once again there were no executions by lethal gas reported in 2007.  There were no confirmed executions by stoning, although it is possible that two were carried out in Iran.

Women.
Seven women have been put to death during the year, 4 by hanging in Iran and 3 by beheading in Saudi Arabia.  Click here for details.

Juveniles.
At least 1 juvenile has been hanged in Iran during 2007 for a crime he allegedly committed when he was 13.

Death penalty developments during 2007.
In July 2007 Rwanda abolished the death penalty.     Bahrain carried out its first executions for nearly 11 years in 2006 and local human rights groups are pressing for abolition. The US state of New Jersey abolished the death penalty on the 17th of December 2007, having not had an execution since 1963. Pakistan has had a significant upsurge in hangings during the year, but still has a huge death row population, estimated at over 3600.

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