Amnesty: Iran carried out highest number of reported executions in 2014
NEWS DESK (DİHA) - The latest report on the death penalty by Amnesty International indicates that 607 recorded executions have been carried out in 22 countries around the world in 2014, a reduction of almost 22 percent compared to the previous year.
The reported executions were carried out in Iran more than any country in the world. In Iran the authorities officially announced 289 executions, but hundreds more were carried out which were not officially acknowledged, Amnesty report said. Execution methods employed around the world included beheading, hanging, lethal injection and shooting. Iran is among the countries highlighted by Amnesty International as having used the death penalty "as a tool to suppress political dissent".
At least 2,466 people in 55 countries are known to have been sentenced to death in 2014, according to the latest Amnesty International report on the death penalty. This represents an increase of 28% compared with 2013, when 1,925 death sentences were recorded in 57 countries. At least 19,094 people were believed to be under sentence of death worldwide at the end of 2014.
Mr. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, reported on March 25 that some 1000 executions had been carried out during the past 15 months in Iran. Prior to that, on March 16, he told a news briefing in Geneva: "There is a lot of concern amongst the Iranian society that the nuclear file may be casting a shadow over the human rights discussion."
The U.N.'s special investigator added that the human rights situation and repression in Iran has worsened since Hassan Rouhani became president.
(nt)
