China, Iran, Saudi, US main executioners: Amnesty
LONDON (Reuters) - More than 2,000 people were known to have been executed around the world last year, the vast majority of them in China, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States, Amnesty International said on Thursday.
In its annual report on executions, the rights group said about 1,770 executions were reported to have been carried out in China in 2005, but added the real figure was undoubtedly much higher, noting a Chinese legal expert had been quoted as saying the true figure was about 8,000.
More than 20,000 people were on death row around the world, said the report, which repeated a call for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty.
Amnesty said at least 2,148 people were executed in 2005 in 22 countries -- 94 percent of them in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States. That's down from 3,797 executions in 2004, but up from 1,146 in 2003.
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