(IDN) — The hanging of two convicted murderers in Japan, exactly one year after the last executions took place, has put the spotlight on Asia as the dubious top-ranking region where almost all the death sentences were carried out in 2009 and the first six months of 2010.

It also highlights that despite the positive evolution towards the worldwide abolition of the death penalty since the UN moratorium in 2007, capital punishment continues to be practised even in countries that are partners in a wide range of human concerns, such as Japan.

What lends a significant dimension to the executions on July 28 is that these are the first to be approved by Minister of Justice Keiko Chiba, since she took office under the Democratic Party of Japan in September 2009. She had previously spoken out against the death penalty.

With the huge estimated number of 5,000 people executed in China, at least 5,608 death sentences or 98.7 per cent of the total worldwide were carried out in Asia, according to a new report.

The report by the Italian-based International Abolitionist Association ‘Hands Off Cain’, which is actively involved in the abolition of the death penalty, points out that China carried out some 88 per cent of the executions in 2009 and the first six months of 2010, followed by at least 402 in Iran, and 77 in Iraq.

China, Iran and Iraq were thus the countries with the three highest totals of executions in 2009.

In stark contrast to Asia, in Africa, the death penalty was carried out in only four countries: Botswana (1), Egypt (at least 5), Libya (at least 4) and the Sudan (at least 9). “Therefore, the at least 19 executions recorded were a decrease on the at least 26 in 2007 and 87 in 2006,” says the Hands Off Cain report.

It is in recognition of this that the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr Jean Ping, received the award of the ‘Abolitionist of the Year 2010’ during a special ceremony organised in Rome by the Hands Off Cain.

Africa

He pointed out that Africa is an active partner in the global effort to eradicate the death penalty. Current statistics on the application of the death penalty on the continent shows that about 15 African states have abolished the death penalty in their penal system, about 23 other states ha.ve de facto abolished it by not carrying out executions in the past 10 or more years, and two of the death penalty retentionist states are observing a moratorium on executions.

These efforts, he added, are obviously laudable and demonstrate the will of the African leaders to eradicate capital punishment on the continent. The African Union, through its specialised human rights organ, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, has taken decisive steps in addressing the vexing issue of the death penalty.

“I have always believed that there cannot be any justification for taking a life, despite the due process of law, because it will never replace the life that was taken away. This is my motivation for the modest efforts I have made at the national and continental level as well as the level of the United Nations,” the chairperson stated.

He called upon all states, particularly member states of the African Union, to consider abolishing the death penalty as a form of punishment in light of the resolutions by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the United Nations General Assembly.

Gradual abolition

Hands off Cain says that the Americas would be a continent practically free of the death penalty, if it was not for the United States, the only country in the continent that carried out executions (52) in 2009.

In Europe, Belarus continues to be the only exception on a continent otherwise totally free of the death penalty, adds the report.

In spite of the grim reality of the death penalty not yet completely abolished, the 2010 Hands Off Cain Report confirms the positive evolution towards the worldwide eradication of capital punishment in practice for more than 10 years now.

The countries or territories that have decided to abolish capital punishment in law or in practice today are 154, with 43 still carrying it out.

“The gradual abolition is also evident in the decrease in the number of executions in countries that still use capital punishment. In 2009, executions were at least 5,679, down from the at least 5,735 in 2008 and at least 5,851 in 2007,” says the report.

In 2009 and in the first six months of 2010, six countries went from maintaining the death penalty to abolishing it, while in nine countries there were no executions recorded despite having had them in 2008.

“However, there is a fact that it is important to reflect on,” says the report, adding: “Of the 43 countries that still employ the death penalty, 36 are dictatorships or authoritarian or illiberal regimes. In 15 of these countries, there were at least 5,619 executions in 2009, approximately 99 per cent of the global total.”

Many of these countries do not provide official statistics on the use of the death penalty, and the number of executions could be much higher.

Of the 43 countries that still resort to the death penalty, only seven can be defined as liberal democracies. Of the liberal democracies in 2009 that have the death penalty, only three carried out a total of 60 executions: the United States (52), Japan (7) and Botswana (1).

“Considering that 99 per cent of worldwide capital punishment concerns authoritarian countries, it is evident that the definite solution is, more than the fight against the death penalty, the fight for democracy, the affirmation of the state of rights, and the promotion and respect of political rights and civil liberties in more parts of the world,” states the 2010 Hands off Cain report released on July 31.

The report provides a breakdown of “at least 5,679” executions in 18 countries in 2009:

* China: approximately 5,000;

* Iran: at least 402;

* Iraq: at least 77;

* Saudi Arabia: at least 69;

* United States: 52;

* Yemen: at least 30;

* Sudan: at least 9;

* Vietnam: at least 9;

* Syria: at least 8;

* Japan: 7;

* Egypt: at least 5;

* Libya: at least 4;

* Bangladesh: 3;

* Thailand: 2;

* North Korea: at least 1;

* Botswana: 1; and

* Singapore: 1.

The report says, it is possible that executions were carried out in Malaysia in 2009, although none were officially reported. “Furthermore, it would appear that no executions were carried out in 2009 in the following nine countries which all carried out executions in 2008: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Belarus (although it carried out two executions in the first months of 2010), Indonesia, Mongolia (which has since put a moratorium on executions into effect), Pakistan, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates.

Thailand, on the other hand, took up the practice of capital punishment once again in 2009 after having stopped in 2008. In 2010, in Palestine, the Hamas Government in Gaza took it upon itself to resume executions (5) after a de facto moratorium that had lasted five years. Taiwan also took up executions (4) again after a five-year suspension.