CAJ News Africa
from SAAD MUSE in Mogadishu,
Thursday May 26, 2022
At least 579 executions were carried out across 18 countries
last year.
This as nations retained the death sentence after courts
eased COVID-19 restrictions.
The figure represents a 20-percent increase on the recorded
total for 2020.
Iran accounted for the biggest portion of this rise,
executing at least 314 people, up from 246 in 2020.
According to Amnesty International, in East and Southern
Africa, the overall number of recorded executions more than doubled as a result
of rising numbers in two countries – with 21 people executed in Somalia and at
least nine in South Sudan.
Three people were executed in Botswana.
“The persistent use of the death penalty by Somalia, South
Sudan and Botswana goes against regional trends in Sub-Saharan Africa and the
world, where many countries are moving away from this cruel, inhumane and
degrading form of punishment,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s
Director for East and Southern Africa.
While 33 executions were recorded in Botswana, Somalia and
South Sudan in 2021, the overwhelming majority of the countries in the region
that have not yet abolished the death penalty for all crimes, including Kenya,
Malawi, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, have not carried out any executions.
Amnesty is opposed to the capital punishment and believes
there is no credible evidence that the death penalty is an effective deterrent
to crime.
“Justice is not served by executing people, and the world is
moving away from this abhorrent and degrading form of punishment. Authorities
must stop using the death penalty,” Muchena said.