🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 13 (from laksa031)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa013.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.amnesty.org.au/amnesty-death-penalty-report-2016/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.amnesty.org.au/amnesty-death-penalty-report-2016/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/amnesty-death-penalty-report-2016\/","crawl_time":1775399632,"first_indexed_time":1491867553,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"au,org,amnesty!www,\/amnesty-death-penalty-report-2016\/ s443","src_root_hash":"12763023540776052413","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"China must come clean about ‘grotesque’ level of capital punishment","meta_descriptions":["China's horrifying use of the death penalty remains one of the country’s secrets, as the authorities continue to execute thousands of people each year."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"11 April 2017\n1,032 executions worldwide in 2016, down 37% from 2015 (1,634)\nIran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan join China as world’s top five executioners\nUSA not among top five for first time since 2006, with lowest number of executions since 1991\nChina investigation discredits claims of openness\nVietnam state killing spree revealed\nChina’s horrifying use of the death penalty remains one of the country’s deadly secrets, as the authorities continue to execute thousands of people each year, Amnesty International said in its 2016 global review of the death penalty, published today.\nRead the report\nA new in-depth investigation by Amnesty International,\nalso published today\n, shows that the Chinese authorities enforce an elaborate secrecy system to obscure the shocking scale of executions in the country, despite repeated claims it is making progress towards judicial transparency.\nExcluding China, states around the world executed 1,032 people in 2016. China executed more than all other countries in the world put together, while the USA reached a historic low in its use of the death penalty in 2016.\n“China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way  – executing more people annually than any other country in the world”\nSalil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International\n“China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International.\n“The Chinese government has recognised it is a laggard in terms of openness and judicial transparency, but it persists in actively concealing the true scale of executions. It is high time for China to lift the veil on this deadly secret and finally come clean about its death penalty system.”\n“Just a handful of countries are still executing people on a large scale. The majority of states no longer condone the state taking human life. With just four countries responsible for 87% of all recorded executions – the death penalty is itself living on borrowed time.”\nChina transparency claims “misleading”\nAmnesty International’s investigation exposes that hundreds of documented death penalty cases are missing from a national online court database that was initially touted as a “crucial step towards openness” and is regularly heralded as evidence that the country’s judicial system has nothing to hide.\nChina’s database contains only a tiny fraction of the thousands of death sentences that Amnesty International estimates are handed out every year in China, reflecting the fact that the Chinese government continues to maintain almost total secrecy over the number of people sentenced to death and executed in the country.\nChina classifies most information related to the death penalty as “state secrets” and in any case virtually any information can be classified as a state secret under China’s overbroad secrecy laws.\nAmnesty International found public news reports of at least 931 individuals executed between 2014 and 2016 (only a fraction of the total executions), but only 85 of them are in the state database.\nThe database also omits foreign nationals given death sentences for drug-related crimes -despite media reports of at least 11 executions of foreign nationals. Numerous cases related to “terrorism” and drug-related offences are also absent.\n“The Chinese government uses partial disclosures and unverifiable assertions to claim progress in reducing the number of executions yet at the same time maintains near absolute secrecy. This is deliberately misleading.” said Salil Shetty.\n“China is a complete outlier in the world community when it comes to the death penalty, out of step with international legal standards and in contravention with repeated UN requests to report how many people it executes.”\nOver the past few years the risk of people being executed for crimes they did not commit has caused increasing alarm among the public in China. In December 2016, the Supreme People’s Court overturned the wrongful conviction of one of the most prominent case of miscarriage of justice and wrongful execution, Nie Shubin. He had been executed 21 years earlier, at the age of 20. In 2016 Chinese courts decided four people facing the death penalty were innocent and quashed their death sentences.\nShocking extent of Vietnam executions uncovered\nIn Malaysia and Vietnam, new disclosures reveal that the scale of the executions in those countries was even higher than thought.\nInformation from Vietnam, published in Vietnamese media for the first time in February 2017, shows that the country has secretly been the world’s third biggest executioner over the last three years, executing 429 people between 6 August 2013 and 30 June 2016. Only China and Iran executed more people during that period. The report from Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security does not contain a breakdown of figures for 2016.\n“The magnitude of executions in Vietnam in recent years is truly shocking. This conveyor belt of executions completely overshadows recent death penalty reforms. You have to wonder how many more people have faced the death penalty without the world knowing it,” said Salil Shetty.\nSimilar secrecy reigns in Malaysia, where parliamentary pressure in 2016 led to revelations that more than a thousand people are on death row, with nine people executed in 2016 alone- much more than previously thought.\nMeanwhile, the idea that crimes warrant the death penalty continue to take root elsewhere in the region, with the Philippines seeking to reinstate the death penalty (last abolished in 2006) and Maldives threatening to resume executions after more than 60 years.\nUSA drops off top five for first time since 2006\nFor the first time since 2006, and only the second time since 1991, the USA is not among the world’s five biggest executioners.\nThe number of executions (20) in 2016 reached the lowest level recorded in any year since 1991, half what it was in 1996, and almost five times lower than in 1999. The number of executions has fallen every year since 2009, except 2012 when it stayed the same).\nThe number of death sentences (32) was the lowest since 1973, a clear sign that judges, prosecutors and juries are turning their back on the death penalty as a means of administering justice. However, 2,832 people are still on death row in the USA.\n“Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way”\nSALIL SHETTY, SECRETARY GENERAL, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL\nWhile the debate is clearly shifting, the fall in executions was due partly to litigation on lethal injection protocols and challenges in sourcing chemicals in several states. However, the possible resolution of some lethal injection challenges could see the level of executions start to take off again in 2017, starting with Arkansas this April.\nOnly five US states executed people in 2016: Alabama (2), Florida (1), Georgia (9), Missouri (1), Texas (7), with Texas and Georgia, accounting for 80% of the country’s executions in 2016. Meanwhile, 12 states, including Arkansas, yet to abolish the death penalty have not executed anyone for at least 10 years.\n“Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way. Executions could return with a vengeance in 2017. The shocking number of executions scheduled over a ten-day period in Arkansas this April is a clear example of how quickly the picture can change,” said Salil Shetty.\n“The steady decline in the use of the death penalty in the USA is a sign of hope for activists who have long campaigned for an end to capital punishment. The debate is clearly shifting. Politicians should steer clear of the ugly ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric that helped drive a spike in executions in the 1980s and 1990s. The death penalty is not going to make anyone any safer.\n“The five isolated states that carried out executions last year are behind the times. Not only are they against a national trend, but also a regional one. For eight years now the USA has had the shameful distinction of being the only country in the Americas that carries out executions.”\nKey trends in 2016\nThe fall in executions worldwide is largely driven by drops in Iran (down 42% from at least 977 to at least 567) and Pakistan (73%, from 326 to 87).\nIn sub-Saharan Africa fewer executions were recorded but the number of death sentences more than doubled, largely due to a steep rise in Nigeria.\nIn the Middle East and North Africa the number of executions decreased by 28%, but Iran and Saudi Arabia remained among the top executioners\nTwo countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes (Benin and Nauru); Guinea abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes only.","attrs_markdown":"![](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tr?id=1796569403957167&ev=PageView&noscript=1)\n\n![](https:\/\/ct.pinterest.com\/v3\/?event=init&tid=2612755502084&pd[em]=<hashed_email_address>&noscript=1)\n\nAUSTRALIA\n\n[![Amnesty International Australia](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/themes\/amnesty\/assets\/img\/logo-amnesty.png)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/)\n\n[![Acknowledgement](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![Acknowledgement](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/themes\/amnesty\/assets\/img\/cta-acknowledgement-1.png)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/amnesty-death-penalty-report-2016\/)\n\n- [Act now](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/)\n  ### ISSUES\n  - 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[\\- Iran](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=iran)\n  - [Individuals at risk](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=individuals-at-risk)\n  - [\\- Death penalty](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=death-penalty)\n  - [\\- Write for rights](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=write-for-rights)\n  - [Freedom of expression, association and assembly](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=freedom-of-expression-association-and-assembly)\n  - [\\- Right to Protest](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=right-to-protest)\n  - [Gender and sexuality](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=gender-and-sexuality)\n  - [\\- LGBTQIA+ rights](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=lgbtqia-rights)\n  - [\\- Women's rights](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=womens-rights)\n  - [Activism](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=activism)\n  - [Governance](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/?issues%5B%5D=governance)\n  \n  ### LATEST ACTIONS\n  [![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1922_Dr-Hussam-V2-436x266.jpg)TAKE ACTION](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/call-on-foreign-minister-wong-free-dr-abu-safiya\/)\n  \n  [Call on Foreign Minister Wong now: Free Dr Hussam Abu Safiya Dr Hussam Abu Safiya was arbitrarily detained more than 450 days ago after Israeli forces raided...](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/call-on-foreign-minister-wong-free-dr-abu-safiya\/ \"Call on Foreign Minister Wong now: Free Dr Hussam Abu Safiya\")\n  \n  [![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Middle-East-Images-436x266.jpg)TAKE ACTION](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/middle-east-crisis-protect-civilians\/)\n  \n  [Middle East crisis: Email Foreign Minister Penny Wong Hostilities across the Middle East have escalated rapidly following unlawful attacks on Iran by the...](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/middle-east-crisis-protect-civilians\/ \"Middle East crisis: Email Foreign Minister Penny Wong\")\n  \n  [![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/314324-1-436x266.jpg)TAKE ACTION](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/iran-children-must-not-be-sentenced-to-death\/)\n  \n  [Iran: Children must not be sentenced to death At least 30 individuals, including children, are at risk of the death penalty after their alleged...](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/iran-children-must-not-be-sentenced-to-death\/ \"Iran: Children must not be sentenced to death\")\n  \n  [![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/314376-1-436x266.jpg)TAKE ACTION](https:\/\/action.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/end-protest-violence-in-iran)\n  \n  [End protest violence in Iran Iranian authorities have unleashed an unprecedented, deadly crackdown to crush protests demanding...](https:\/\/action.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/end-protest-violence-in-iran \"End protest violence in Iran\")\n  \n  [See all actions](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/act-now)\n- [What’s new](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/whats-new\/)\n  ### [ALL UPDATES](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/whats-new\/)\n  - [BLOGS](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/types\/blogs-and-features\/)\n  - [MEDIA](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/types\/news-article\/)\n  - [CAMPAIGN UPDATES](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/types\/campaign-updates\/)\n  - [OUR WINS](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/types\/wins\/)\n  - [RESEARCH & REPORTS](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/types\/research-reports\/)\n  - [SUBMISSIONS](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/types\/submissions\/)\n  - [NEWSLETTERS](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/types\/newsletters\/)\n  \n  ### LATEST UPDATES\n  [![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/47.-Road-number-3-PP09-1468x710-1-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/cambodia-casinos-get-state-approval-despite-links-to-human-rights-abuse-at-scamming-compounds\/)\n  \n  2 April 2026 \\| 3:20 pm\n  \n  [Cambodia: Casinos get state approval despite links to human rights abuse at scamming compounds A new investigation by Amnesty International shows that a dozen casinos in Cambodia are directly...](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/cambodia-casinos-get-state-approval-despite-links-to-human-rights-abuse-at-scamming-compounds\/ \"Cambodia: Casinos get state approval despite links to human rights abuse at scamming compounds\")\n  \n  [![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Iran-Transfers-Atomic-Energy-Employee-Sentenced-to-Death-to-New-Prison-1200x710-1-436x266.webp)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/iran-seven-protesters-and-dissidents-at-risk-of-imminent-execution-after-four-men-arbitrarily-executed-in-secret-within-24-hours\/)\n  \n  1 April 2026 \\| 3:11 pm\n  \n  [Iran: Seven protesters and dissidents at risk of imminent execution after four men arbitrarily executed in secret within 24 hours Responding to the arbitrary and secret executions of four dissidents in Iran since yesterday as at...](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/iran-seven-protesters-and-dissidents-at-risk-of-imminent-execution-after-four-men-arbitrarily-executed-in-secret-within-24-hours\/ \"Iran: Seven protesters and dissidents at risk of imminent execution after four men arbitrarily executed in secret within 24 hours\")\n  \n  [![BEIT SHEMESH, ISRAEL - MARCH 02: The sun rises over the area destroyed by an Iranian missile yesterday on March 02, 2026 in Beit Shemesh, Israel. At least nine people were killed and over 20 injured in the strike. Iran fired waves of missiles at Israel after the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran early on February 28th. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency, as Israelis braced for the retaliation. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld\/Getty Images)](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![BEIT SHEMESH, ISRAEL - MARCH 02: The sun rises over the area destroyed by an Iranian missile yesterday on March 02, 2026 in Beit Shemesh, Israel. At least nine people were killed and over 20 injured in the strike. Iran fired waves of missiles at Israel after the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran early on February 28th. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency, as Israelis braced for the retaliation. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld\/Getty Images)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/315595-1-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/israel-irans-missile-strike-that-killed-nine-civilians-must-be-investigated-as-a-war-crime\/)\n  \n  31 March 2026 \\| 4:15 pm\n  \n  [Israel: Iran’s missile strike that killed nine civilians ‘must be investigated as a war crime’ A missile strike by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s authorities on the Israeli city of Beit...](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/israel-irans-missile-strike-that-killed-nine-civilians-must-be-investigated-as-a-war-crime\/ \"Israel: Iran’s missile strike that killed nine civilians ‘must be investigated as a war crime’\")\n  \n  [![Jehosheba Bennett](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![Jehosheba Bennett](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/314825-1468x710-1-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/jehosheba-bennett-if-we-dont-address-colonialism-we-will-never-tackle-racism\/)\n  \n  \\| 2:16 pm\n  \n  [Jehosheba Bennett: “If we don’t address colonialism, we will never tackle racism.” In 2024, a Belgium court ordered the government to pay reparations to five ‘Metis’ women, born...](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/jehosheba-bennett-if-we-dont-address-colonialism-we-will-never-tackle-racism\/ \"Jehosheba Bennett: “If we don’t address colonialism, we will never tackle racism.”\")\n- [What we do](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/what-we-do\/)\n  ### [WHAT WE DO](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/what-we-do\/)\n  - [AT HOME](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/what-we-do\/at-home\/)\n  - [IN THE WORLD](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/what-we-do\/in-the-world\/)\n  - [CHALLENGE INJUSTICE](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/challenge-injustice\/)\n  - [WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS?](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/how-it-works\/what-are-human-rights\/)\n  \n  ### [HOW IT WORKS](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/how-it-works\/)\n  - [HOW WE'RE RUN](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/how-it-works\/how-were-run\/)\n  - [OUR PEOPLE](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/how-it-works\/our-people\/)\n  - [OUR HISTORY](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/how-it-works\/our-history\/)\n  - [OUR VISION](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/what-we-do\/our-vision\/)\n  \n  ### [OUR CAMPAIGNS](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/campaigns)\n  [![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-10-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/campaigns\/indigenous-youth-justice\/)\n  \n  [Indigenous Youth Justice If you’re a First Nations child, you’re 29 times more likely to be imprisoned than your...](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/campaigns\/indigenous-youth-justice\/ \"Indigenous Youth Justice\")\n  \n  [![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/294018-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/campaigns\/international-and-crisis\/)\n  \n  [International and Crisis Amnesty is urgently calling for a sustained ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of...](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/campaigns\/international-and-crisis\/ \"International and Crisis\")\n  \n  [![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/climate-shot-3-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/campaigns\/climate-justice\/)\n  \n  [Climate Justice We work tirelessly to protect the rights that are threatened by the global climate crisis.](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/campaigns\/climate-justice\/ \"Climate Justice\")\n  \n  [![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Amnesty_default-e1475717608139-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/campaigns\/write-for-rights\/)\n  \n  [Write for Rights Take action for Write for Rights and challenge injustice. 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[Create an account](https:\/\/action.amnesty.org.au\/login?tab=1)\n\n[Death penalty](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/issues\/death-penalty\/) [Global](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/regions\/global\/)\n\n![A noose hangs in front of a white wall](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)\n\n![A noose hangs in front of a white wall](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/226785_Death_Penalty_-_Illustration_Images_.jpg)\n\n# Death Penalty: China must come clean about ‘grotesque’ level of capital punishment\n\nDeath penalty © Amnesty International\n\n11 April 2017\n\n- 1,032 executions worldwide in 2016, down 37% from 2015 (1,634)\n- Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan join China as world’s top five executioners\n- USA not among top five for first time since 2006, with lowest number of executions since 1991\n- China investigation discredits claims of openness\n- Vietnam state killing spree revealed\n\nChina’s horrifying use of the death penalty remains one of the country’s deadly secrets, as the authorities continue to execute thousands of people each year, Amnesty International said in its 2016 global review of the death penalty, published today.\n\n[Read the report](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Report-Death-Sentences-and-Executions-2016.pdf)\n\nA new in-depth investigation by Amnesty International, [also published today](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Chinas-Deadly-Secrets-Eng.pdf), shows that the Chinese authorities enforce an elaborate secrecy system to obscure the shocking scale of executions in the country, despite repeated claims it is making progress towards judicial transparency.\n\nExcluding China, states around the world executed 1,032 people in 2016. China executed more than all other countries in the world put together, while the USA reached a historic low in its use of the death penalty in 2016.\n\n> “China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world”\n> \n> Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International\n\n“China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International.\n\n“The Chinese government has recognised it is a laggard in terms of openness and judicial transparency, but it persists in actively concealing the true scale of executions. It is high time for China to lift the veil on this deadly secret and finally come clean about its death penalty system.”\n\n“Just a handful of countries are still executing people on a large scale. The majority of states no longer condone the state taking human life. With just four countries responsible for 87% of all recorded executions – the death penalty is itself living on borrowed time.”\n\n### China transparency claims “misleading”\nAmnesty International’s investigation exposes that hundreds of documented death penalty cases are missing from a national online court database that was initially touted as a “crucial step towards openness” and is regularly heralded as evidence that the country’s judicial system has nothing to hide.\n\nChina’s database contains only a tiny fraction of the thousands of death sentences that Amnesty International estimates are handed out every year in China, reflecting the fact that the Chinese government continues to maintain almost total secrecy over the number of people sentenced to death and executed in the country.\n\nChina classifies most information related to the death penalty as “state secrets” and in any case virtually any information can be classified as a state secret under China’s overbroad secrecy laws.\n\nAmnesty International found public news reports of at least 931 individuals executed between 2014 and 2016 (only a fraction of the total executions), but only 85 of them are in the state database.\n\nThe database also omits foreign nationals given death sentences for drug-related crimes -despite media reports of at least 11 executions of foreign nationals. Numerous cases related to “terrorism” and drug-related offences are also absent.\n\n“The Chinese government uses partial disclosures and unverifiable assertions to claim progress in reducing the number of executions yet at the same time maintains near absolute secrecy. This is deliberately misleading.” said Salil Shetty.\n\n“China is a complete outlier in the world community when it comes to the death penalty, out of step with international legal standards and in contravention with repeated UN requests to report how many people it executes.”\n\nOver the past few years the risk of people being executed for crimes they did not commit has caused increasing alarm among the public in China. In December 2016, the Supreme People’s Court overturned the wrongful conviction of one of the most prominent case of miscarriage of justice and wrongful execution, Nie Shubin. He had been executed 21 years earlier, at the age of 20. In 2016 Chinese courts decided four people facing the death penalty were innocent and quashed their death sentences.\n\n### Shocking extent of Vietnam executions uncovered\nIn Malaysia and Vietnam, new disclosures reveal that the scale of the executions in those countries was even higher than thought.\n\nInformation from Vietnam, published in Vietnamese media for the first time in February 2017, shows that the country has secretly been the world’s third biggest executioner over the last three years, executing 429 people between 6 August 2013 and 30 June 2016. Only China and Iran executed more people during that period. The report from Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security does not contain a breakdown of figures for 2016.\n\n“The magnitude of executions in Vietnam in recent years is truly shocking. This conveyor belt of executions completely overshadows recent death penalty reforms. You have to wonder how many more people have faced the death penalty without the world knowing it,” said Salil Shetty.\n\nSimilar secrecy reigns in Malaysia, where parliamentary pressure in 2016 led to revelations that more than a thousand people are on death row, with nine people executed in 2016 alone- much more than previously thought.\n\nMeanwhile, the idea that crimes warrant the death penalty continue to take root elsewhere in the region, with the Philippines seeking to reinstate the death penalty (last abolished in 2006) and Maldives threatening to resume executions after more than 60 years.\n\n### USA drops off top five for first time since 2006\nFor the first time since 2006, and only the second time since 1991, the USA is not among the world’s five biggest executioners.\n\nThe number of executions (20) in 2016 reached the lowest level recorded in any year since 1991, half what it was in 1996, and almost five times lower than in 1999. The number of executions has fallen every year since 2009, except 2012 when it stayed the same).\n\nThe number of death sentences (32) was the lowest since 1973, a clear sign that judges, prosecutors and juries are turning their back on the death penalty as a means of administering justice. However, 2,832 people are still on death row in the USA.\n\n> “Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way”\n> \n> SALIL SHETTY, SECRETARY GENERAL, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL\n\nWhile the debate is clearly shifting, the fall in executions was due partly to litigation on lethal injection protocols and challenges in sourcing chemicals in several states. However, the possible resolution of some lethal injection challenges could see the level of executions start to take off again in 2017, starting with Arkansas this April.\n\nOnly five US states executed people in 2016: Alabama (2), Florida (1), Georgia (9), Missouri (1), Texas (7), with Texas and Georgia, accounting for 80% of the country’s executions in 2016. Meanwhile, 12 states, including Arkansas, yet to abolish the death penalty have not executed anyone for at least 10 years.\n\n“Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way. Executions could return with a vengeance in 2017. The shocking number of executions scheduled over a ten-day period in Arkansas this April is a clear example of how quickly the picture can change,” said Salil Shetty.\n\n“The steady decline in the use of the death penalty in the USA is a sign of hope for activists who have long campaigned for an end to capital punishment. The debate is clearly shifting. Politicians should steer clear of the ugly ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric that helped drive a spike in executions in the 1980s and 1990s. The death penalty is not going to make anyone any safer.\n\n“The five isolated states that carried out executions last year are behind the times. Not only are they against a national trend, but also a regional one. For eight years now the USA has had the shameful distinction of being the only country in the Americas that carries out executions.”\n\n### Key trends in 2016\n- The fall in executions worldwide is largely driven by drops in Iran (down 42% from at least 977 to at least 567) and Pakistan (73%, from 326 to 87).\n- In sub-Saharan Africa fewer executions were recorded but the number of death sentences more than doubled, largely due to a steep rise in Nigeria.\n- In the Middle East and North Africa the number of executions decreased by 28%, but Iran and Saudi Arabia remained among the top executioners\n- Two countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes (Benin and Nauru); Guinea abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes only.\n\n### Related Posts\n[![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Iran-JOs-1-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/iran-two-17-year-old-boys-flogged-and-secretly-executed-in-abhorrent-violation-of-international-law\/)\n\n[Death penalty](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/issues\/death-penalty\/) [Middle East](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/regions\/middle-east\/)\n\n##### [Iran: Two 17-year-old boys flogged and secretly executed in abhorrent violation of international law](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/iran-two-17-year-old-boys-flogged-and-secretly-executed-in-abhorrent-violation-of-international-law\/)\n30 April 2019 \\| 9:36 am\n\nThe Iranian authorities have flogged and secretly executed two boys under the age of 18, Amnesty...\n\n[Read More](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/iran-two-17-year-old-boys-flogged-and-secretly-executed-in-abhorrent-violation-of-international-law\/)\n\n[![Demonstrators from Amnesty International hold placards outside the Bang Kwang Central Prison to protest against the death penalty in Bangkok, Thailand, June 19, 2018.](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![Demonstrators from Amnesty International hold placards outside the Bang Kwang Central Prison to protest against the death penalty in Bangkok, Thailand, June 19, 2018.](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ExecuteJusticeNotePeople-e1618924733907-436x266.png)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/death-penalty-2020-despite-covid-19-some-countries-ruthlessly-pursued-death-sentences-and-executions\/)\n\n[Global](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/regions\/global\/)\n\n##### [Death penalty 2020: Despite Covid-19, some countries ruthlessly pursued death sentences and executions](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/death-penalty-2020-despite-covid-19-some-countries-ruthlessly-pursued-death-sentences-and-executions\/)\n21 April 2021 \\| 4:20 pm\n\nThe unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic were not enough to deter 18 countries from...\n\n[Read More](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/death-penalty-2020-despite-covid-19-some-countries-ruthlessly-pursued-death-sentences-and-executions\/)\n\n[![(Photo by Onur Coban\/Anadolu Agency\/Getty Images)](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![(Photo by Onur Coban\/Anadolu Agency\/Getty Images)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/GettyImages-843751008_1200x628-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/un-myanmar-rohingya-exodus-exposes-abject-failure-world-leaders-deliver-solution-refugee-crisis\/)\n\n[International and crisis](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/issues\/international-and-crisis\/) [Asia](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/regions\/asia\/)\n\n##### [UN: Myanmar Rohingya exodus exposes abject failure of world leaders to deliver solution to refugee crisis](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/un-myanmar-rohingya-exodus-exposes-abject-failure-world-leaders-deliver-solution-refugee-crisis\/)\n18 September 2017 \\| 1:58 pm\n\nMore Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh in the space of three weeks than the total number of...\n\n[Read More](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/un-myanmar-rohingya-exodus-exposes-abject-failure-world-leaders-deliver-solution-refugee-crisis\/)\n\n[![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Annualreport2016-1-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/amnesty-annual-report-201516-australia-can-better\/)\n\n##### [Amnesty Annual Report 2015\/16: Australia can do better](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/amnesty-annual-report-201516-australia-can-better\/)\n29 January 2016 \\| 9:25 am\n\nAs Australia heads into an election year and steps up its bid for a UN Human Rights Council seat,...\n\n[Read More](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/amnesty-annual-report-201516-australia-can-better\/)\n\n[![A hangman's noose](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![A hangman's noose](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/226704_Death_Penalty_2016_-_Stills-436x266.jpg)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/death-sentences-executions-2015\/)\n\n[Death penalty](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/issues\/death-penalty\/)\n\n##### [Death sentences and executions in 2015](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/death-sentences-executions-2015\/)\n22 April 2016 \\| 1:18 am\n\n2015 saw a rise in the number of people executed – at least 1,634 – the highest recorded by...\n\n[Read More](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/death-sentences-executions-2015\/)\n\n© ARIS MESSINIS\/AFP\/Getty Images\n\nRefugees and migrants on an inflatable boat arrive in Greece.\n\nCopyright © Amnesty International Australia ABN: 640 0280 6233. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. We acknowledge that this land was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land. WARNING: This website may contain images or names of people who have passed away.\n\n[![China must come clean about ‘grotesque’ level of capital punishment](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/themes\/amnesty\/assets\/img\/logo-amnesty.png)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/)\n\nDefending human rights\n\n- [Contact us](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/contact-us\/)\n  - [General enquiries](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/contact-us\/)\n  - [For journalists (Media Centre)](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/media-centre\/)\n- [Work with us](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/work-with-us\/)\n  - [Positions](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/work-with-us\/positions\/)\n  - [Volunteer](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/work-with-us\/volunteer\/)\n- [Legal](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/legal\/)\n- [Update Your Details](https:\/\/action.amnesty.org.au\/login)\n- [Site Map](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/sitemap\/)\n- [Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmnestyOz)\n- [![Amnesty Australia Instagram](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![Amnesty Australia Instagram](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/themes\/amnesty\/assets\/img\/icon-instagram.png)](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/amnestyaustralia\/)\n- [![X](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![X](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/themes\/amnesty\/assets\/img\/icon-x.png)](https:\/\/twitter.com\/amnestyOz)\n- [![YouTube](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![YouTube](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/themes\/amnesty\/assets\/img\/yt.png)](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AIAustralia)\n- [![TikTok](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![TikTok](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/themes\/amnesty\/assets\/img\/icon-tiktok.png)](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@amnestyoz)\n\nCopyright © Amnesty International Australia ABN: 640 0280 6233. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. We acknowledge that this land was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land. WARNING: This website may contain images or names of people who have passed away.\n\n![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2015_Torturous-practices-1.jpg)\n\n### AUSTRALIA MUST END TORTUROUS PRACTICES IN YOUTH DETENTION\nSign and Share our Petition calling for an End to Torturous Practices in Youth Detention\n\n[Sign Now\\!](https:\/\/action.amnesty.org.au\/act-now\/australia-must-end-torturous-practices-and-raise-the-age)\n\n\\`\n\nX\n\n![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-donate-with-badge.jpg)\n\n### Select the donation type\n[Once-off](https:\/\/action.amnesty.org.au\/donate)\n\n[Regular](https:\/\/action.amnesty.org.au\/donate\/reg)\n\n[Other ways to donate](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/donate\/other-ways-to-give\/)  \n [Leave a Gift in your Will](https:\/\/legacy.amnesty.org.au\/legacy)  \n [Donation Frequently Asked Questions](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/donate\/faqs\/)\n\nAmnesty is 100% independent. We will never accept funding from governments or political organisations. This means we’re free to campaign with objectivity and impartiality.\n\n**Be the change. Our better future begins today.**  \n All donations of \\$2 and over are tax-deductible in Australia.\n\nX\n\n![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/bg-image-acknowledgement.png)\n\n### Acknowledgement of Country\n![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/aborigenal-flag.png)\n\n![](data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Torres-Islander-flag.png)\n\nFirst Nations peoples are the continuing custodians of the lands, waters and skies of this continent, of which sovereignty was never ceded.\n\nWe recognise the strength and intergenerational resilience of Elders, and honour the culture and wisdom that they have passed on to future generations.\n\nWe continue to fight for Indigenous Rights and stand in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, acknowledging the ongoing impacts of colonisation and human rights abuses which disproportionately impact on First Nations peoples.\n\nAlways was, always will be.\n\nX","attrs_readable_markdown":"11 April 2017\n\n- 1,032 executions worldwide in 2016, down 37% from 2015 (1,634)\n- Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan join China as world’s top five executioners\n- USA not among top five for first time since 2006, with lowest number of executions since 1991\n- China investigation discredits claims of openness\n- Vietnam state killing spree revealed\n\nChina’s horrifying use of the death penalty remains one of the country’s deadly secrets, as the authorities continue to execute thousands of people each year, Amnesty International said in its 2016 global review of the death penalty, published today.\n\n[Read the report](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Report-Death-Sentences-and-Executions-2016.pdf)\n\nA new in-depth investigation by Amnesty International, [also published today](https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Chinas-Deadly-Secrets-Eng.pdf), shows that the Chinese authorities enforce an elaborate secrecy system to obscure the shocking scale of executions in the country, despite repeated claims it is making progress towards judicial transparency.\n\nExcluding China, states around the world executed 1,032 people in 2016. China executed more than all other countries in the world put together, while the USA reached a historic low in its use of the death penalty in 2016.\n\n> “China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world”\n> \n> Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International\n\n“China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International.\n\n“The Chinese government has recognised it is a laggard in terms of openness and judicial transparency, but it persists in actively concealing the true scale of executions. It is high time for China to lift the veil on this deadly secret and finally come clean about its death penalty system.”\n\n“Just a handful of countries are still executing people on a large scale. The majority of states no longer condone the state taking human life. With just four countries responsible for 87% of all recorded executions – the death penalty is itself living on borrowed time.”\n\n### China transparency claims “misleading”\nAmnesty International’s investigation exposes that hundreds of documented death penalty cases are missing from a national online court database that was initially touted as a “crucial step towards openness” and is regularly heralded as evidence that the country’s judicial system has nothing to hide.\n\nChina’s database contains only a tiny fraction of the thousands of death sentences that Amnesty International estimates are handed out every year in China, reflecting the fact that the Chinese government continues to maintain almost total secrecy over the number of people sentenced to death and executed in the country.\n\nChina classifies most information related to the death penalty as “state secrets” and in any case virtually any information can be classified as a state secret under China’s overbroad secrecy laws.\n\nAmnesty International found public news reports of at least 931 individuals executed between 2014 and 2016 (only a fraction of the total executions), but only 85 of them are in the state database.\n\nThe database also omits foreign nationals given death sentences for drug-related crimes -despite media reports of at least 11 executions of foreign nationals. Numerous cases related to “terrorism” and drug-related offences are also absent.\n\n“The Chinese government uses partial disclosures and unverifiable assertions to claim progress in reducing the number of executions yet at the same time maintains near absolute secrecy. This is deliberately misleading.” said Salil Shetty.\n\n“China is a complete outlier in the world community when it comes to the death penalty, out of step with international legal standards and in contravention with repeated UN requests to report how many people it executes.”\n\nOver the past few years the risk of people being executed for crimes they did not commit has caused increasing alarm among the public in China. In December 2016, the Supreme People’s Court overturned the wrongful conviction of one of the most prominent case of miscarriage of justice and wrongful execution, Nie Shubin. He had been executed 21 years earlier, at the age of 20. In 2016 Chinese courts decided four people facing the death penalty were innocent and quashed their death sentences.\n\n### Shocking extent of Vietnam executions uncovered\nIn Malaysia and Vietnam, new disclosures reveal that the scale of the executions in those countries was even higher than thought.\n\nInformation from Vietnam, published in Vietnamese media for the first time in February 2017, shows that the country has secretly been the world’s third biggest executioner over the last three years, executing 429 people between 6 August 2013 and 30 June 2016. Only China and Iran executed more people during that period. The report from Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security does not contain a breakdown of figures for 2016.\n\n“The magnitude of executions in Vietnam in recent years is truly shocking. This conveyor belt of executions completely overshadows recent death penalty reforms. You have to wonder how many more people have faced the death penalty without the world knowing it,” said Salil Shetty.\n\nSimilar secrecy reigns in Malaysia, where parliamentary pressure in 2016 led to revelations that more than a thousand people are on death row, with nine people executed in 2016 alone- much more than previously thought.\n\nMeanwhile, the idea that crimes warrant the death penalty continue to take root elsewhere in the region, with the Philippines seeking to reinstate the death penalty (last abolished in 2006) and Maldives threatening to resume executions after more than 60 years.\n\n### USA drops off top five for first time since 2006\nFor the first time since 2006, and only the second time since 1991, the USA is not among the world’s five biggest executioners.\n\nThe number of executions (20) in 2016 reached the lowest level recorded in any year since 1991, half what it was in 1996, and almost five times lower than in 1999. The number of executions has fallen every year since 2009, except 2012 when it stayed the same).\n\nThe number of death sentences (32) was the lowest since 1973, a clear sign that judges, prosecutors and juries are turning their back on the death penalty as a means of administering justice. However, 2,832 people are still on death row in the USA.\n\n> “Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way”\n> \n> SALIL SHETTY, SECRETARY GENERAL, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL\n\nWhile the debate is clearly shifting, the fall in executions was due partly to litigation on lethal injection protocols and challenges in sourcing chemicals in several states. However, the possible resolution of some lethal injection challenges could see the level of executions start to take off again in 2017, starting with Arkansas this April.\n\nOnly five US states executed people in 2016: Alabama (2), Florida (1), Georgia (9), Missouri (1), Texas (7), with Texas and Georgia, accounting for 80% of the country’s executions in 2016. Meanwhile, 12 states, including Arkansas, yet to abolish the death penalty have not executed anyone for at least 10 years.\n\n“Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way. Executions could return with a vengeance in 2017. The shocking number of executions scheduled over a ten-day period in Arkansas this April is a clear example of how quickly the picture can change,” said Salil Shetty.\n\n“The steady decline in the use of the death penalty in the USA is a sign of hope for activists who have long campaigned for an end to capital punishment. The debate is clearly shifting. Politicians should steer clear of the ugly ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric that helped drive a spike in executions in the 1980s and 1990s. The death penalty is not going to make anyone any safer.\n\n“The five isolated states that carried out executions last year are behind the times. Not only are they against a national trend, but also a regional one. For eight years now the USA has had the shameful distinction of being the only country in the Americas that carries out executions.”\n\n### Key trends in 2016\n- The fall in executions worldwide is largely driven by drops in Iran (down 42% from at least 977 to at least 567) and Pakistan (73%, from 326 to 87).\n- In sub-Saharan Africa fewer executions were recorded but the number of death sentences more than doubled, largely due to a steep rise in Nigeria.\n- In the Middle East and North Africa the number of executions decreased by 28%, but Iran and Saudi Arabia remained among the top executioners\n- Two countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes (Benin and Nauru); Guinea abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes only.","meta_canonical":null}

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Boilerpipe Text	11 April 2017 1,032 executions worldwide in 2016, down 37% from 2015 (1,634) Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan join China as world’s top five executioners USA not among top five for first time since 2006, with lowest number of executions since 1991 China investigation discredits claims of openness Vietnam state killing spree revealed China’s horrifying use of the death penalty remains one of the country’s deadly secrets, as the authorities continue to execute thousands of people each year, Amnesty International said in its 2016 global review of the death penalty, published today. Read the report A new in-depth investigation by Amnesty International, also published today , shows that the Chinese authorities enforce an elaborate secrecy system to obscure the shocking scale of executions in the country, despite repeated claims it is making progress towards judicial transparency. Excluding China, states around the world executed 1,032 people in 2016. China executed more than all other countries in the world put together, while the USA reached a historic low in its use of the death penalty in 2016. “China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world” Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International “China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International. “The Chinese government has recognised it is a laggard in terms of openness and judicial transparency, but it persists in actively concealing the true scale of executions. It is high time for China to lift the veil on this deadly secret and finally come clean about its death penalty system.” “Just a handful of countries are still executing people on a large scale. The majority of states no longer condone the state taking human life. With just four countries responsible for 87% of all recorded executions – the death penalty is itself living on borrowed time.” China transparency claims “misleading” Amnesty International’s investigation exposes that hundreds of documented death penalty cases are missing from a national online court database that was initially touted as a “crucial step towards openness” and is regularly heralded as evidence that the country’s judicial system has nothing to hide. China’s database contains only a tiny fraction of the thousands of death sentences that Amnesty International estimates are handed out every year in China, reflecting the fact that the Chinese government continues to maintain almost total secrecy over the number of people sentenced to death and executed in the country. China classifies most information related to the death penalty as “state secrets” and in any case virtually any information can be classified as a state secret under China’s overbroad secrecy laws. Amnesty International found public news reports of at least 931 individuals executed between 2014 and 2016 (only a fraction of the total executions), but only 85 of them are in the state database. The database also omits foreign nationals given death sentences for drug-related crimes -despite media reports of at least 11 executions of foreign nationals. Numerous cases related to “terrorism” and drug-related offences are also absent. “The Chinese government uses partial disclosures and unverifiable assertions to claim progress in reducing the number of executions yet at the same time maintains near absolute secrecy. This is deliberately misleading.” said Salil Shetty. “China is a complete outlier in the world community when it comes to the death penalty, out of step with international legal standards and in contravention with repeated UN requests to report how many people it executes.” Over the past few years the risk of people being executed for crimes they did not commit has caused increasing alarm among the public in China. In December 2016, the Supreme People’s Court overturned the wrongful conviction of one of the most prominent case of miscarriage of justice and wrongful execution, Nie Shubin. He had been executed 21 years earlier, at the age of 20. In 2016 Chinese courts decided four people facing the death penalty were innocent and quashed their death sentences. Shocking extent of Vietnam executions uncovered In Malaysia and Vietnam, new disclosures reveal that the scale of the executions in those countries was even higher than thought. Information from Vietnam, published in Vietnamese media for the first time in February 2017, shows that the country has secretly been the world’s third biggest executioner over the last three years, executing 429 people between 6 August 2013 and 30 June 2016. Only China and Iran executed more people during that period. The report from Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security does not contain a breakdown of figures for 2016. “The magnitude of executions in Vietnam in recent years is truly shocking. This conveyor belt of executions completely overshadows recent death penalty reforms. You have to wonder how many more people have faced the death penalty without the world knowing it,” said Salil Shetty. Similar secrecy reigns in Malaysia, where parliamentary pressure in 2016 led to revelations that more than a thousand people are on death row, with nine people executed in 2016 alone- much more than previously thought. Meanwhile, the idea that crimes warrant the death penalty continue to take root elsewhere in the region, with the Philippines seeking to reinstate the death penalty (last abolished in 2006) and Maldives threatening to resume executions after more than 60 years. USA drops off top five for first time since 2006 For the first time since 2006, and only the second time since 1991, the USA is not among the world’s five biggest executioners. The number of executions (20) in 2016 reached the lowest level recorded in any year since 1991, half what it was in 1996, and almost five times lower than in 1999. The number of executions has fallen every year since 2009, except 2012 when it stayed the same). The number of death sentences (32) was the lowest since 1973, a clear sign that judges, prosecutors and juries are turning their back on the death penalty as a means of administering justice. However, 2,832 people are still on death row in the USA. “Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way” SALIL SHETTY, SECRETARY GENERAL, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL While the debate is clearly shifting, the fall in executions was due partly to litigation on lethal injection protocols and challenges in sourcing chemicals in several states. However, the possible resolution of some lethal injection challenges could see the level of executions start to take off again in 2017, starting with Arkansas this April. Only five US states executed people in 2016: Alabama (2), Florida (1), Georgia (9), Missouri (1), Texas (7), with Texas and Georgia, accounting for 80% of the country’s executions in 2016. Meanwhile, 12 states, including Arkansas, yet to abolish the death penalty have not executed anyone for at least 10 years. “Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way. Executions could return with a vengeance in 2017. The shocking number of executions scheduled over a ten-day period in Arkansas this April is a clear example of how quickly the picture can change,” said Salil Shetty. “The steady decline in the use of the death penalty in the USA is a sign of hope for activists who have long campaigned for an end to capital punishment. The debate is clearly shifting. Politicians should steer clear of the ugly ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric that helped drive a spike in executions in the 1980s and 1990s. The death penalty is not going to make anyone any safer. “The five isolated states that carried out executions last year are behind the times. Not only are they against a national trend, but also a regional one. For eight years now the USA has had the shameful distinction of being the only country in the Americas that carries out executions.” Key trends in 2016 The fall in executions worldwide is largely driven by drops in Iran (down 42% from at least 977 to at least 567) and Pakistan (73%, from 326 to 87). In sub-Saharan Africa fewer executions were recorded but the number of death sentences more than doubled, largely due to a steep rise in Nigeria. In the Middle East and North Africa the number of executions decreased by 28%, but Iran and Saudi Arabia remained among the top executioners Two countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes (Benin and Nauru); Guinea abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes only.
Markdown	![](https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1796569403957167&ev=PageView&noscript=1) ![](https://ct.pinterest.com/v3/?event=init&tid=2612755502084&pd[em]=<hashed_email_address>&noscript=1) AUSTRALIA [![Amnesty International Australia](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/themes/amnesty/assets/img/logo-amnesty.png)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/) [![Acknowledgement](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![Acknowledgement](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/themes/amnesty/assets/img/cta-acknowledgement-1.png)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/amnesty-death-penalty-report-2016/) - [Act now](https://www.amnesty.org.au/act-now/) ### ISSUES - [Indigenous Youth Justice](https://www.amnesty.org.au/act-now/?issues%5B%5D=indigenous-youth-justice) - [Climate justice](https://www.amnesty.org.au/act-now/?issues%5B%5D=climate-justice) - [Refugee rights](https://www.amnesty.org.au/act-now/?issues%5B%5D=refugees) - [Human Rights Act](https://www.amnesty.org.au/act-now/?issues%5B%5D=human-rights-act) - 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MARCH 02: The sun rises over the area destroyed by an Iranian missile yesterday on March 02, 2026 in Beit Shemesh, Israel. At least nine people were killed and over 20 injured in the strike. Iran fired waves of missiles at Israel after the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran early on February 28th. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency, as Israelis braced for the retaliation. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![BEIT SHEMESH, ISRAEL - MARCH 02: The sun rises over the area destroyed by an Iranian missile yesterday on March 02, 2026 in Beit Shemesh, Israel. At least nine people were killed and over 20 injured in the strike. Iran fired waves of missiles at Israel after the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran early on February 28th. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency, as Israelis braced for the retaliation. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/315595-1-436x266.jpg)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/israel-irans-missile-strike-that-killed-nine-civilians-must-be-investigated-as-a-war-crime/) 31 March 2026 \\| 4:15 pm [Israel: Iran’s missile strike that killed nine civilians ‘must be investigated as a war crime’ A missile strike by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s authorities on the Israeli city of Beit...](https://www.amnesty.org.au/israel-irans-missile-strike-that-killed-nine-civilians-must-be-investigated-as-a-war-crime/ "Israel: Iran’s missile strike that killed nine civilians ‘must be investigated as a war crime’") [![Jehosheba Bennett](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![Jehosheba Bennett](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/314825-1468x710-1-436x266.jpg)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/jehosheba-bennett-if-we-dont-address-colonialism-we-will-never-tackle-racism/) \\| 2:16 pm [Jehosheba Bennett: “If we don’t address colonialism, we will never tackle racism.” In 2024, a Belgium court ordered the government to pay reparations to five ‘Metis’ women, born...](https://www.amnesty.org.au/jehosheba-bennett-if-we-dont-address-colonialism-we-will-never-tackle-racism/ "Jehosheba Bennett: “If we don’t address colonialism, we will never tackle racism.”") - [What we do](https://www.amnesty.org.au/what-we-do/) ### [WHAT WE DO](https://www.amnesty.org.au/what-we-do/) - [AT HOME](https://www.amnesty.org.au/what-we-do/at-home/) - [IN THE WORLD](https://www.amnesty.org.au/what-we-do/in-the-world/) - [CHALLENGE INJUSTICE](https://www.amnesty.org.au/challenge-injustice/) - [WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS?](https://www.amnesty.org.au/how-it-works/what-are-human-rights/) ### [HOW IT WORKS](https://www.amnesty.org.au/how-it-works/) - [HOW WE'RE RUN](https://www.amnesty.org.au/how-it-works/how-were-run/) - [OUR PEOPLE](https://www.amnesty.org.au/how-it-works/our-people/) - [OUR HISTORY](https://www.amnesty.org.au/how-it-works/our-history/) - [OUR VISION](https://www.amnesty.org.au/what-we-do/our-vision/) ### [OUR CAMPAIGNS](https://www.amnesty.org.au/campaigns) [![](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/img-10-436x266.jpg)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/campaigns/indigenous-youth-justice/) [Indigenous Youth Justice If you’re a First Nations child, you’re 29 times more likely to be imprisoned than your...](https://www.amnesty.org.au/campaigns/indigenous-youth-justice/ "Indigenous Youth Justice") [![](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/294018-436x266.jpg)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/campaigns/international-and-crisis/) [International and Crisis Amnesty is urgently calling for a sustained ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of...](https://www.amnesty.org.au/campaigns/international-and-crisis/ "International and Crisis") [![](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/climate-shot-3-436x266.jpg)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/campaigns/climate-justice/) [Climate Justice We work tirelessly to protect the rights that are threatened by the global climate crisis.](https://www.amnesty.org.au/campaigns/climate-justice/ "Climate Justice") [![](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Amnesty_default-e1475717608139-436x266.jpg)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/campaigns/write-for-rights/) [Write for Rights Take action for Write for Rights and challenge injustice. 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[Create an account](https://action.amnesty.org.au/login?tab=1) [Death penalty](https://www.amnesty.org.au/issues/death-penalty/) [Global](https://www.amnesty.org.au/regions/global/) ![A noose hangs in front of a white wall](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7) ![A noose hangs in front of a white wall](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/226785_Death_Penalty_-_Illustration_Images_.jpg) # Death Penalty: China must come clean about ‘grotesque’ level of capital punishment Death penalty © Amnesty International 11 April 2017 - 1,032 executions worldwide in 2016, down 37% from 2015 (1,634) - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan join China as world’s top five executioners - USA not among top five for first time since 2006, with lowest number of executions since 1991 - China investigation discredits claims of openness - Vietnam state killing spree revealed China’s horrifying use of the death penalty remains one of the country’s deadly secrets, as the authorities continue to execute thousands of people each year, Amnesty International said in its 2016 global review of the death penalty, published today. [Read the report](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Report-Death-Sentences-and-Executions-2016.pdf) A new in-depth investigation by Amnesty International, [also published today](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Chinas-Deadly-Secrets-Eng.pdf), shows that the Chinese authorities enforce an elaborate secrecy system to obscure the shocking scale of executions in the country, despite repeated claims it is making progress towards judicial transparency. Excluding China, states around the world executed 1,032 people in 2016. China executed more than all other countries in the world put together, while the USA reached a historic low in its use of the death penalty in 2016. > “China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world” > > Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International “China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International. “The Chinese government has recognised it is a laggard in terms of openness and judicial transparency, but it persists in actively concealing the true scale of executions. It is high time for China to lift the veil on this deadly secret and finally come clean about its death penalty system.” “Just a handful of countries are still executing people on a large scale. The majority of states no longer condone the state taking human life. With just four countries responsible for 87% of all recorded executions – the death penalty is itself living on borrowed time.” ### China transparency claims “misleading” Amnesty International’s investigation exposes that hundreds of documented death penalty cases are missing from a national online court database that was initially touted as a “crucial step towards openness” and is regularly heralded as evidence that the country’s judicial system has nothing to hide. China’s database contains only a tiny fraction of the thousands of death sentences that Amnesty International estimates are handed out every year in China, reflecting the fact that the Chinese government continues to maintain almost total secrecy over the number of people sentenced to death and executed in the country. China classifies most information related to the death penalty as “state secrets” and in any case virtually any information can be classified as a state secret under China’s overbroad secrecy laws. Amnesty International found public news reports of at least 931 individuals executed between 2014 and 2016 (only a fraction of the total executions), but only 85 of them are in the state database. The database also omits foreign nationals given death sentences for drug-related crimes -despite media reports of at least 11 executions of foreign nationals. Numerous cases related to “terrorism” and drug-related offences are also absent. “The Chinese government uses partial disclosures and unverifiable assertions to claim progress in reducing the number of executions yet at the same time maintains near absolute secrecy. This is deliberately misleading.” said Salil Shetty. “China is a complete outlier in the world community when it comes to the death penalty, out of step with international legal standards and in contravention with repeated UN requests to report how many people it executes.” Over the past few years the risk of people being executed for crimes they did not commit has caused increasing alarm among the public in China. In December 2016, the Supreme People’s Court overturned the wrongful conviction of one of the most prominent case of miscarriage of justice and wrongful execution, Nie Shubin. He had been executed 21 years earlier, at the age of 20. In 2016 Chinese courts decided four people facing the death penalty were innocent and quashed their death sentences. ### Shocking extent of Vietnam executions uncovered In Malaysia and Vietnam, new disclosures reveal that the scale of the executions in those countries was even higher than thought. Information from Vietnam, published in Vietnamese media for the first time in February 2017, shows that the country has secretly been the world’s third biggest executioner over the last three years, executing 429 people between 6 August 2013 and 30 June 2016. Only China and Iran executed more people during that period. The report from Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security does not contain a breakdown of figures for 2016. “The magnitude of executions in Vietnam in recent years is truly shocking. This conveyor belt of executions completely overshadows recent death penalty reforms. You have to wonder how many more people have faced the death penalty without the world knowing it,” said Salil Shetty. Similar secrecy reigns in Malaysia, where parliamentary pressure in 2016 led to revelations that more than a thousand people are on death row, with nine people executed in 2016 alone- much more than previously thought. Meanwhile, the idea that crimes warrant the death penalty continue to take root elsewhere in the region, with the Philippines seeking to reinstate the death penalty (last abolished in 2006) and Maldives threatening to resume executions after more than 60 years. ### USA drops off top five for first time since 2006 For the first time since 2006, and only the second time since 1991, the USA is not among the world’s five biggest executioners. The number of executions (20) in 2016 reached the lowest level recorded in any year since 1991, half what it was in 1996, and almost five times lower than in 1999. The number of executions has fallen every year since 2009, except 2012 when it stayed the same). The number of death sentences (32) was the lowest since 1973, a clear sign that judges, prosecutors and juries are turning their back on the death penalty as a means of administering justice. However, 2,832 people are still on death row in the USA. > “Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way” > > SALIL SHETTY, SECRETARY GENERAL, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL While the debate is clearly shifting, the fall in executions was due partly to litigation on lethal injection protocols and challenges in sourcing chemicals in several states. However, the possible resolution of some lethal injection challenges could see the level of executions start to take off again in 2017, starting with Arkansas this April. Only five US states executed people in 2016: Alabama (2), Florida (1), Georgia (9), Missouri (1), Texas (7), with Texas and Georgia, accounting for 80% of the country’s executions in 2016. Meanwhile, 12 states, including Arkansas, yet to abolish the death penalty have not executed anyone for at least 10 years. “Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way. Executions could return with a vengeance in 2017. The shocking number of executions scheduled over a ten-day period in Arkansas this April is a clear example of how quickly the picture can change,” said Salil Shetty. “The steady decline in the use of the death penalty in the USA is a sign of hope for activists who have long campaigned for an end to capital punishment. The debate is clearly shifting. Politicians should steer clear of the ugly ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric that helped drive a spike in executions in the 1980s and 1990s. The death penalty is not going to make anyone any safer. “The five isolated states that carried out executions last year are behind the times. Not only are they against a national trend, but also a regional one. For eight years now the USA has had the shameful distinction of being the only country in the Americas that carries out executions.” ### Key trends in 2016 - The fall in executions worldwide is largely driven by drops in Iran (down 42% from at least 977 to at least 567) and Pakistan (73%, from 326 to 87). - In sub-Saharan Africa fewer executions were recorded but the number of death sentences more than doubled, largely due to a steep rise in Nigeria. - In the Middle East and North Africa the number of executions decreased by 28%, but Iran and Saudi Arabia remained among the top executioners - Two countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes (Benin and Nauru); Guinea abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes only. ### Related Posts [![](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Iran-JOs-1-436x266.jpg)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/iran-two-17-year-old-boys-flogged-and-secretly-executed-in-abhorrent-violation-of-international-law/) [Death penalty](https://www.amnesty.org.au/issues/death-penalty/) [Middle East](https://www.amnesty.org.au/regions/middle-east/) ##### [Iran: Two 17-year-old boys flogged and secretly executed in abhorrent violation of international law](https://www.amnesty.org.au/iran-two-17-year-old-boys-flogged-and-secretly-executed-in-abhorrent-violation-of-international-law/) 30 April 2019 \\| 9:36 am The Iranian authorities have flogged and secretly executed two boys under the age of 18, Amnesty... [Read More](https://www.amnesty.org.au/iran-two-17-year-old-boys-flogged-and-secretly-executed-in-abhorrent-violation-of-international-law/) [![Demonstrators from Amnesty International hold placards outside the Bang Kwang Central Prison to protest against the death penalty in Bangkok, Thailand, June 19, 2018.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![Demonstrators from Amnesty International hold placards outside the Bang Kwang Central Prison to protest against the death penalty in Bangkok, Thailand, June 19, 2018.](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ExecuteJusticeNotePeople-e1618924733907-436x266.png)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/death-penalty-2020-despite-covid-19-some-countries-ruthlessly-pursued-death-sentences-and-executions/) [Global](https://www.amnesty.org.au/regions/global/) ##### [Death penalty 2020: Despite Covid-19, some countries ruthlessly pursued death sentences and executions](https://www.amnesty.org.au/death-penalty-2020-despite-covid-19-some-countries-ruthlessly-pursued-death-sentences-and-executions/) 21 April 2021 \\| 4:20 pm The unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic were not enough to deter 18 countries from... [Read More](https://www.amnesty.org.au/death-penalty-2020-despite-covid-19-some-countries-ruthlessly-pursued-death-sentences-and-executions/) [![(Photo by Onur Coban/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![(Photo by Onur Coban/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/GettyImages-843751008_1200x628-436x266.jpg)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/un-myanmar-rohingya-exodus-exposes-abject-failure-world-leaders-deliver-solution-refugee-crisis/) [International and crisis](https://www.amnesty.org.au/issues/international-and-crisis/) [Asia](https://www.amnesty.org.au/regions/asia/) ##### [UN: Myanmar Rohingya exodus exposes abject failure of world leaders to deliver solution to refugee crisis](https://www.amnesty.org.au/un-myanmar-rohingya-exodus-exposes-abject-failure-world-leaders-deliver-solution-refugee-crisis/) 18 September 2017 \\| 1:58 pm More Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh in the space of three weeks than the total number of... [Read More](https://www.amnesty.org.au/un-myanmar-rohingya-exodus-exposes-abject-failure-world-leaders-deliver-solution-refugee-crisis/) [![](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Annualreport2016-1-436x266.jpg)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/amnesty-annual-report-201516-australia-can-better/) ##### [Amnesty Annual Report 2015/16: Australia can do better](https://www.amnesty.org.au/amnesty-annual-report-201516-australia-can-better/) 29 January 2016 \\| 9:25 am As Australia heads into an election year and steps up its bid for a UN Human Rights Council seat,... [Read More](https://www.amnesty.org.au/amnesty-annual-report-201516-australia-can-better/) [![A hangman's noose](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)![A hangman's noose](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/226704_Death_Penalty_2016_-_Stills-436x266.jpg)](https://www.amnesty.org.au/death-sentences-executions-2015/) [Death penalty](https://www.amnesty.org.au/issues/death-penalty/) ##### [Death sentences and executions in 2015](https://www.amnesty.org.au/death-sentences-executions-2015/) 22 April 2016 \\| 1:18 am 2015 saw a rise in the number of people executed – at least 1,634 – the highest recorded by... [Read More](https://www.amnesty.org.au/death-sentences-executions-2015/) © ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images Refugees and migrants on an inflatable boat arrive in Greece. Copyright © Amnesty International Australia ABN: 640 0280 6233. 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Readable Markdown	11 April 2017 - 1,032 executions worldwide in 2016, down 37% from 2015 (1,634) - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan join China as world’s top five executioners - USA not among top five for first time since 2006, with lowest number of executions since 1991 - China investigation discredits claims of openness - Vietnam state killing spree revealed China’s horrifying use of the death penalty remains one of the country’s deadly secrets, as the authorities continue to execute thousands of people each year, Amnesty International said in its 2016 global review of the death penalty, published today. [Read the report](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Report-Death-Sentences-and-Executions-2016.pdf) A new in-depth investigation by Amnesty International, [also published today](https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Chinas-Deadly-Secrets-Eng.pdf), shows that the Chinese authorities enforce an elaborate secrecy system to obscure the shocking scale of executions in the country, despite repeated claims it is making progress towards judicial transparency. Excluding China, states around the world executed 1,032 people in 2016. China executed more than all other countries in the world put together, while the USA reached a historic low in its use of the death penalty in 2016. > “China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world” > > Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International “China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way – executing more people annually than any other country in the world,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International. “The Chinese government has recognised it is a laggard in terms of openness and judicial transparency, but it persists in actively concealing the true scale of executions. It is high time for China to lift the veil on this deadly secret and finally come clean about its death penalty system.” “Just a handful of countries are still executing people on a large scale. The majority of states no longer condone the state taking human life. With just four countries responsible for 87% of all recorded executions – the death penalty is itself living on borrowed time.” ### China transparency claims “misleading” Amnesty International’s investigation exposes that hundreds of documented death penalty cases are missing from a national online court database that was initially touted as a “crucial step towards openness” and is regularly heralded as evidence that the country’s judicial system has nothing to hide. China’s database contains only a tiny fraction of the thousands of death sentences that Amnesty International estimates are handed out every year in China, reflecting the fact that the Chinese government continues to maintain almost total secrecy over the number of people sentenced to death and executed in the country. China classifies most information related to the death penalty as “state secrets” and in any case virtually any information can be classified as a state secret under China’s overbroad secrecy laws. Amnesty International found public news reports of at least 931 individuals executed between 2014 and 2016 (only a fraction of the total executions), but only 85 of them are in the state database. The database also omits foreign nationals given death sentences for drug-related crimes -despite media reports of at least 11 executions of foreign nationals. Numerous cases related to “terrorism” and drug-related offences are also absent. “The Chinese government uses partial disclosures and unverifiable assertions to claim progress in reducing the number of executions yet at the same time maintains near absolute secrecy. This is deliberately misleading.” said Salil Shetty. “China is a complete outlier in the world community when it comes to the death penalty, out of step with international legal standards and in contravention with repeated UN requests to report how many people it executes.” Over the past few years the risk of people being executed for crimes they did not commit has caused increasing alarm among the public in China. In December 2016, the Supreme People’s Court overturned the wrongful conviction of one of the most prominent case of miscarriage of justice and wrongful execution, Nie Shubin. He had been executed 21 years earlier, at the age of 20. In 2016 Chinese courts decided four people facing the death penalty were innocent and quashed their death sentences. ### Shocking extent of Vietnam executions uncovered In Malaysia and Vietnam, new disclosures reveal that the scale of the executions in those countries was even higher than thought. Information from Vietnam, published in Vietnamese media for the first time in February 2017, shows that the country has secretly been the world’s third biggest executioner over the last three years, executing 429 people between 6 August 2013 and 30 June 2016. Only China and Iran executed more people during that period. The report from Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security does not contain a breakdown of figures for 2016. “The magnitude of executions in Vietnam in recent years is truly shocking. This conveyor belt of executions completely overshadows recent death penalty reforms. You have to wonder how many more people have faced the death penalty without the world knowing it,” said Salil Shetty. Similar secrecy reigns in Malaysia, where parliamentary pressure in 2016 led to revelations that more than a thousand people are on death row, with nine people executed in 2016 alone- much more than previously thought. Meanwhile, the idea that crimes warrant the death penalty continue to take root elsewhere in the region, with the Philippines seeking to reinstate the death penalty (last abolished in 2006) and Maldives threatening to resume executions after more than 60 years. ### USA drops off top five for first time since 2006 For the first time since 2006, and only the second time since 1991, the USA is not among the world’s five biggest executioners. The number of executions (20) in 2016 reached the lowest level recorded in any year since 1991, half what it was in 1996, and almost five times lower than in 1999. The number of executions has fallen every year since 2009, except 2012 when it stayed the same). The number of death sentences (32) was the lowest since 1973, a clear sign that judges, prosecutors and juries are turning their back on the death penalty as a means of administering justice. However, 2,832 people are still on death row in the USA. > “Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way” > > SALIL SHETTY, SECRETARY GENERAL, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL While the debate is clearly shifting, the fall in executions was due partly to litigation on lethal injection protocols and challenges in sourcing chemicals in several states. However, the possible resolution of some lethal injection challenges could see the level of executions start to take off again in 2017, starting with Arkansas this April. Only five US states executed people in 2016: Alabama (2), Florida (1), Georgia (9), Missouri (1), Texas (7), with Texas and Georgia, accounting for 80% of the country’s executions in 2016. Meanwhile, 12 states, including Arkansas, yet to abolish the death penalty have not executed anyone for at least 10 years. “Use of the death penalty in the USA is at its lowest since the early 1990s. But we have to fight to keep it that way. Executions could return with a vengeance in 2017. The shocking number of executions scheduled over a ten-day period in Arkansas this April is a clear example of how quickly the picture can change,” said Salil Shetty. “The steady decline in the use of the death penalty in the USA is a sign of hope for activists who have long campaigned for an end to capital punishment. The debate is clearly shifting. Politicians should steer clear of the ugly ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric that helped drive a spike in executions in the 1980s and 1990s. The death penalty is not going to make anyone any safer. “The five isolated states that carried out executions last year are behind the times. Not only are they against a national trend, but also a regional one. For eight years now the USA has had the shameful distinction of being the only country in the Americas that carries out executions.” ### Key trends in 2016 - The fall in executions worldwide is largely driven by drops in Iran (down 42% from at least 977 to at least 567) and Pakistan (73%, from 326 to 87). - In sub-Saharan Africa fewer executions were recorded but the number of death sentences more than doubled, largely due to a steep rise in Nigeria. - In the Middle East and North Africa the number of executions decreased by 28%, but Iran and Saudi Arabia remained among the top executioners - Two countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes (Benin and Nauru); Guinea abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes only.
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