The Amnesty International has recently released figures on executions. While China tops the disgraceful list with 1,718 executions, it is in fact Iran that boasts the highest execution rate of all countries. With 346 executions, Iran carried out over 4.5 executions per million people, followed by Saudi Arabia at nearly 4 executions per million. In fact, Saudi Arabia and Iran are four times more likely to conduct executions than China, the third worst offender.
These bleak statistics should be a source of much-needed introspection in Saudi Arabia and Iran, the self-appointed representatives of the Sunni and Shia Islam respectively. Given the abysmal state of judicial systems and the law enforcement agencies, Iran and Saudi Arabia, along with the remaining 50-odd Muslim majority countries, should indeed suspend, if not abolish, the death penalty.
The statistics are available at The Economist website.
No comments:
Post a Comment