1,634 people executed in 2015 -Report

The total number of known executions worldwide rose by more than half last year to 1,634, the highest figure recorded since 1989, Amnesty International said Wednesday as Pakistan sent three more men to the gallows.

The surge was largely fuelled by Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the London-based human rights organisation said in its annual report on death sentences and executions worldwide.

The 1,634 figure does not include China, which is thought to have killed thousands of its own citizens.

Death penalty data is “treated as a state secret” by Beijing, Amnesty said, as it is by Vietnam and Belarus.

Recorded executions were up by 54 percent on 2014’s figure of 1,061.

Just three countries — Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia — were responsible for 89 percent of the total of 1,634.

 http://www.punchng.com/1634-people-executed-in-2015-report/