RIYADH – Four of the world’s five top executioners in 2020 were Middle East states, Amnesty International said.
Iran, Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia accounted for 88 percent of the 483 reported executions worldwide. It accused them of displaying “a ruthless and chilling persistence” when most of the world was focused on saving people’s lives from a deadly virus.
The 483 executions in 18 countries reported during 2020 represented a decrease of 26 percent compared to 2019’s 657 executions, and a fall of 70 percent from a peak of 1,634 executions in 2015, the group said on Wednesday in its annual report on use of the death penalty.(BBC)
