270 on death row in India, 64 sentenced last year: Amnesty

But no executions took place in 2014; globally, executions fell by a fifth, and two-thirds of the world has abolished the death penalty

Indian courts handed down at least 64 death sentences last year, but no executions took place, largely as a result of court rulings, new data from Amnesty International shows. Globally, executions fell by a fifth, and two-thirds of the world has abolished the death penalty.

China continues to execute the most people globally — thousands every year, the human rights group said in a new report published early on Wednesday — but does not publish any data. Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia accounted for nearly three-quarters of the rest of the world’s executions in 2014.

The United States of America executed 35 people, its fewest in 20 years.

In India, which saw the execution of Ajmal Kasab in late 2012 and Afzal Guru in early 2013 after a gap of eight years, several executions scheduled for 2014 were put on hold.

In January, a landmark Supreme Court ruling laid down guidelines for death sentences, including classifying delay in the disposal of mercy petitions as grounds for commutation, as also mental disability. Information reported by the Death Penalty Research Project of the National Law University in Delhi indicated that 270 people were on death row in various Indian prisons, and eight mercy petitions were rejected in 2014.

Pakistan lifted a six-year moratorium on executions after the Peshawar school massacre. Seven people were executed in 2014. As of Tuesday, 66 people have been hanged since the lifting of the moratorium, and Amnesty estimated that 8,000 more persons were on death row.

“Governments using the death penalty to tackle crime are deluding themselves. There is no evidence that shows the threat of execution is more of a deterrent than any other punishment,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said in a statement.

Keywords: India death sentences, Amnesty International