The number of people executed in 2006 fell compared to the previous year, says Amnesty International in its annual report on the death penalty.
However, says the human rights organisation, there has been a “disturbing revival of executions” among a minority of countries and it is calling for a halt to all executions and further death sentences.
The report—The Death Penalty Worldwide: Developments in 2006—shows that at least 1,591 people were executed in 25 countries last year. China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the US accounted for 91% of all executions carried out in 2006.
For 2005 Amnesty calculated that at least 2,148 people had been executed. However, the organisation warns, the report’s figures are minimum only, as countries like China refuse to publish official execution statistics.
In 2006, 25 countries are known to have carried out executions—three more than the previous year—and Amnesty is concerned that some countries are resorting to capital punishment despite a record of unfair trials and other human rights violations.
Amnesty International UK director, Kate Allen, says: “Last year saw a slight drop in execution numbers but it was another
