Amnesty International’s latest annual survey of use of the death penalty around the world has found that an estimated 2,390 people were executed in 25 nations in 2008, with three quarters of those executions taking place in Asia.

The Death Sentences and Executions in 2008, report, which provides a global overview on the death penalty, found that China carried out more executions than the rest of the world’s nations put together. An estimated 1,718 people were executed and it is estimated that a further 7,003 sentenced to death in China in 2008.

At least 8,864 people were sentenced to death in 52 countries during the year.

"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,” said Andrew Beswick, Campaigns Manager for Amnesty International Australia. “The number of executions being carried out in Asia should be strongly condemned, particularly in China and countries such as Japan where the number of executions increased last year.”

Japan, whose use of the death penalty is not widely known, carried out a total of 15 executions in 2008 - the highest known number since 1975. Around 100 people are estimated to be on death row in the country, which performs executions in secret, usually by hanging.

“Death row inmates in Japan are held in harsh detention conditions and are typically notified of their impending execution only on the morning it occurs. Their families are informed only after the execution has been carried out,” said Andrew Beswick.

One Japanese prisoner, Hakamada Iwao, has been on death row since 1968, having spent the last 28 years in solitary confinement. Hakamada Iwao confessed to murder after 20 days of interrogation by police, without a lawyer present. In 2007, one of his trial judges publicly stated that he had always believed Hakamada was innocent.

Amnesty International also reports on countries that handed down death sentences after unfair trials, including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen. The report addresses the discriminatory manner with which the death penalty was often applied in 2008, with a disproportionate number of sentences handed down to the poor, minorities and members of racial, ethnic and religious communities, in countries such as Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and USA.

Most of the world is moving towards abolition, with only 25 out of the 59 countries that retain the death penalty reported to have actually executed people in 2008. Only one country in Europe, Belarus, retains use of the death penalty. The estimated number of executions globally increased substantially in 2008, up from 1,252 in 2007. Much of that increase was attributable to China. Amnesty International has adopted a new method of monitoring executions in China, which provides a more accurate picture of the situation there and which yielded the substantial increase in execution numbers recorded in 2008. It should be noted, however, that the numbers for China are estimates only, and are based on the limited information available.

“The good news is that executions are only carried out by a small number of countries, which shows that we are moving closer to a death-penalty free world,” said Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan. “By contrast, the bad news is that hundreds of people continue to be sentenced to death and suffer in the many countries that have not yet formally abolished the death penalty.”

Regional summaries:

  • Most of the executions in 2008 were carried out in Asia, where 11 countries continue to practise the death penalty: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Singapore, and Viet Nam. China alone accounted for at least 1,718 executions - although the figure is believed to be much higher as statistics on death sentences and executions remain state secrets.

  • The Middle East and North Africa was the region with the second highest number of executions (508). In Iran, stoning and hanging were among the cruel and inhumane methods used, with at least 346 people put to death, including eight juvenile offenders. In Saudi Arabia, where execution is usually by public beheading, at least 102 people were executed.

  • In the Americas, only the USA consistently executes people, with 37 executions carried out in 2008 including more in Texas than in any other state. The release of four men from death row in the USA on grounds of innocence brings to more than 120 the number of such cases released since 1975. The only other country in the Americas to execute in 2008 was St Kitts and Nevis, the first Caribbean state to carry out an execution since 2003.

  • Europe would be entirely free of the death penalty if it were not for Belarus, where the death penalty is shrouded in secrecy: execution by a gunshot to the back of the head and no official information given relatives about the date of the execution or where the body is buried. The former Soviet country carried out four executions in 2008.

  • Only two officially recorded executions were carried out in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 but at least 362 people were sentenced to death. In Liberia the death penalty was reintroduced for the crimes of robbery, terrorism and hijacking.

Read more about and download the Death sentences and executions in 2008 report for more information.

Take action now on the case of Hakamada Iwao, who has been on death row in Japan for 40 years - the last 28 of these being in solitary confinement. Hakamada Iwao's murder conviction was based on a confession extracted through prolonged interrogation and beatings. He subsequently retracted the confession at trial.