Amnesty International will be publishing its annual statistics (for the year 2013) on the use of the death penalty worldwide on Thursday 27 March.

 

The figures - contained in a major report called Death Sentences and Executions in 2013 - are an authoritative annual source of information on human rights violations relating to capital punishment. 

 

The report covers the key trends in the use of the death penalty in the past year including the number of executions per country and the number of death sentences handed down.

 

In 2012 there were at least 682 confirmed executions around the world, and at least 1,722 newly-imposed death sentences in 58 countries. This meant that at least 23,386 people were under sentence of death worldwide at the end of 2012.

 

This year’s Amnesty’s report is likely to show that China is still the world’s biggest user of the death penalty, though there are also significant numbers of executions in countries like Iran and the USA. 

 

The annual statistics report is embargoed for 0001 hrs GMT Thursday 27 March.

 

On 26 March, there will be a pre-launch event for media at Amnesty International’s Secretariat in London (1 Easton Street, London WC1X 0DW: Clerkenwell) where the report’s authors will present the main findings.