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Amnesty
International
on
executions
·
The Chinese
authorities
put to death
at least 470
people last
year, but
may have
killed up to
8,000, human
rights group
Amnesty
International
has said.
·
At least
1,252 people
are known to
have been
executed in
24 countries
in 2007, a
slight drop
on the
previous
year.
·
Just five
countries -
China, Iran,
Saudi
Arabia,
Pakistan and
the US -
were
responsible
for 88% of
known
executions
in the
world,
Amnesty said.
·
About 3,347
people were
sentenced to
death in 51
nations last
year and up
to 27,500
people are
now
estimated to
be on death
row.
·
The death
penalty has
popular
support in
China, but
the
government
has been
attempting
to reform
the system.
·
Last year,
it decreed
that all
cases
involving
the death
penalty had
to be
referred to
the Supreme
Court.
·
According to
state media,
this led to
a 10% fall
in
executions
in the first
five months
of 2007.
·
Iran was
second to
China with
317 known
executions
during 2007,
the report
said,
followed by
Saudi Arabia
on 143,
Pakistan on
135 and the
US on 42.
·
Amnesty said
the totals
had risen
alarmingly
in Iran,
Saudi Arabia
and
Pakistan,
but that
worldwide
they showed
a drop -
down to
1,252 from
1,591 the
previous
year.
Amnesty
International
·
In 1961,
British
lawyer Peter
Benenson
wrote a
newspaper
appeal, 'The
Forgotten
Prisoners'
in the
Observer,
calling for
an
international
campaign to
protest
against the
imprisonment
of men and
women for
their
political or
religious
beliefs.
o
The appeal
received a
tremendous
response.
Within a
month, more
than a
thousand
readers had
sent letters
of support
and offers
of practical
help. They
also sent
details of
the cases of
many more
prisoners of
conscience.
-
Delegates
from
Belgium,
France,
Ireland,
UK, USA
and
Switzerland
meet in
Luxembourg
to
establish
a
permanent
international
movement
that will
be known
as
'Amnesty
International'
-
British
artist
Diana
Redhouse
designs
the logo,
inspired
by the
ancient
Chinese
proverb
"better to
light a
candle
then to
curse the
darkness"
-
The first
candle is
lit on
Human
Rights day
at St
Martins-in-the-Fields
parish,
London
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