Europe Execution Free for First Time

Amnesty International reported today that 2009 was Europe’s first entirely execution-free year, excepting Belarus, which executed two men. Virtually all European countries have abolished capital punishment, with Western European nations like France, Germany and Britain starting the trend shortly after World War II, and Eastern European countries following suit during the 1980s and 1990s.

Since, 2006, Belarus has been the only European state to continue executions, and it remains one of the most undemocratic European countries, with an authoritarian political system and numerous human rights violations in hits history. The United States is the only nation in the Americas that still holds the death penalty, while China is consistently conducting the most executions per year in the world.

In the Middle East, Iran is the biggest executioner. In 2009, 388 people were put to death in Iran, 112 of whom were executed during riots over presidential election results. Iraq also saw a rise in executions in 2009, with 120 people executed in comparison to 34 in 2008 and 33 in 2007. However, authorities at Amnesty state that overall, the death penalty is on the decline worldwide. Amnesty has been keeping track of execution statistics in each country since 1980, through they do not count casualties of war or extra-judicial killings in their figures.

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