Executions Double In 2001

(REUTERS)  Governments across the globe shot, electrocuted and hanged more than 3,000 of their citizens last year, more than double the total executed in 2000, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

During 2001, at least 3,048 people were put to death in 31 countries, the sharp increase largely the result of a Chinese crack-down on crime that saw the world's most populous nation execute nearly 1,800 people in four months, Amnesty said.

The human rights group said in a statement many of those condemned to death could have been tortured to extract confessions, and the total number of executions could be far higher since many killings were deliberately kept secret.

"Many cases were in blatant violation of international standards on the application of the death penalty," Amnesty said, calling for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, sitting in Geneva, to establish a moratorium on all executions.

China executed a total of 2,468 people, more than all other countries put together, while Iran's 139 recorded executions probably fell short of the true number of people put to death, Amnesty said.

In oil-rich Saudi Arabia, 79 executions were reported along with a multitude of amputations and floggings, while in the United States 66 people lost their lives at the hands of the state, down from 85 the previous year.

"The figures for China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States accounted for 90 percent of all known executions in 2001," Amnesty said.

Chile abolished the death penalty in 2001 for peacetime offenses and Turkey adopted constitutional amendments to limit its scope, but overall the practice does not seem to be on the wane -- Amnesty said over 5,000 people were sentenced to death during the year, compared to 3,058 in 2000.