London---Egypt and Nigeria accounted for an "alarming rise" in the number of death sentences handed out around the world in 2014, often on the back of security concerns, Amnesty International said Wednesday.
The London-based rights watchdog also criticised Pakistan for lifting a moratorium on the execution of civilians in the wake of the Peshawar school massacre by Taliban militants in December.
"It's a very worrying development in 2014 that there has been this increase in death sentences," Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty's director of global issues, told AFP at the launch of a report on capital punishment.
"The death penalty isn't justice," she said.
Titled "Alarming rise in death sentences as governments resorted to capital punishment to combat crime and terrorism", the report recorded 2,466 death sentences during last year -- a 28-percent increase from 2013.
The number of executions -- 607 -- went down by 22 percent however from the previous year, although Amnesty warned these numbers did not count executions in China where death sentences are kept secret.
"There is no evidence that the death penalty is any more of a deterrent to violent crime or terrorism than other forms of punishment," Gaughran said.
China had the highest number of executions in the world, followed by Iran (289, as well as at least 454 not acknowledged by the authorities), Saudi Arabia (90), Iraq (61) and the United States (35), the report found.
It also noted that Belarus -- the only European state that still allows capital punishment -- executed three people in 2014 compared to none in 2013.
But the overall positive trend was for fewer countries to use capital punishment, said Amnesty, which has been campaigning against the death penalty for nearly 40 years
"The numbers speak for themselves -- the death penalty is becoming a thing of the past," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty's secretary general.
"The few countries that still execute need to take a serious look in the mirror and ask themselves if they want to continue to violate the right to life".
AFP
