Death Penalty
Behnoud's story: a juvenile offender in Iran
'The stories of these cases are very painful'
In this animation from Amnesty and The Guardian, Iranian lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei tells of one particular case that stayed with him.
Behnoud Shojaee was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 2006, for a crime he committed when he was 17. Watch his story in the film above.
Iran continues to sentence juvenile offenders to death, and execute for crimes that were committed when the offender was under 18 - a practice strictly prohibited under international law. At least three juvenile offenders were executed in Iran last year. Over the last three years (2008-11), we have counted 145 juvenile offenders to be condemned to Iran's death row.
Executions and death sentences during 2011
Get the full facts and figures in our 2011 report on death sentences and executions
The number of countries around the world using the death penalty continues to fall: in 2011, 20 countries carried out executions, (down from 23 in 2010). However, the number of executions carried out by state authorities rose from 527 executions in 2010, to 676 in 2011.
We recorded a steep increase in executions in the Middle East, with at least 558 executions in eight countries. 99% of all confirmed executions in the region last year took place in four countries: Iran (360), Iraq (68), Saudi Arabia (82) and Yemen (41). However, these figures do not include Libya and Syria, where extrajudicial executions have been widely reported during the conflict and unrest of the past year, and the continuing violence makes it impossible to monitor use of the death penalty.
Our report also excludes statistics for the world's biggest executioner, China, where thousands are believed to be shot or lethally injected by the government every year, yet the details remain a state secret.
Japan resumes executions, after nearly two year hiatusTomoyuki Furusawa, Yasuaki Uwabe and Yasutoshi Matsuda were all hanged hours after Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa consented for the three prisoners to be executed. Take action
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Hakamada Iwao | |
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Saudi man risks execution after tweet | |
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Sakineh Mohammadi
Ashtiani |
More death penalty news
Storify: reflecting on death penalty news in 2011 December 2011
In a year when the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia took on international significance, but Idaho chose to resume capital punishment; when the pro-capital punishment lobby in Britain stepped up, and Iran carried out hundreds of executions for drugs offences, 2011 was a year of ups and downs in our campaign to abolish the death penalty worldwide. Read our Storify
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Idaho resumes executions after 17 years Nov 2011 |
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Illinois Senate passes bill to abolish death penalty Mar 2011 |
Press releases
- Hangings in Japan a 'hugely retrograde step' 29 Mar 2012
- India: Balwant Singh reprieve not enough 29 Mar 2012
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Japan resumes executions








