Executions fell in '08, report finds; China still at top

[Coventina]

Source: Philadelphia Enquirer

ROME - The number of prisoners put to death worldwide decreased in 2008, a human-rights group said yesterday, adding that China retained its position as the country with the most executions.

Executions in the United States were down last year, to 37, while Iran and Saudi Arabia appeared near the top of the list of the world's top executioners, the anti-death-penalty group Hands Off Cain said in a report about 2008 and the first six months of this year.

The group said that at least 5,727 executions were carried out in 2008, down from 5,851 the previous year. It said that 46 countries retained the death penalty last year, three fewer than in 2007, with Burundi, Uzbekistan, and Argentina abolishing capital punishment.

The report said China accounted for at least 5,000 executions, or 87.3 percent of the total, the same estimate as 2007. That estimate is far greater than one given earlier this year by the human-rights group Amnesty International. Amnesty said China executed at least 1,718 in 2008. Hands Off Cain said its estimates were based on reports by media and human-rights groups, since the exact number remained a state secret.

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