LONDON, March 30 (UPI) -- More than 700 people were executed by government action last year and 2,001 were handed death sentences, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
However, Amnesty International said its annual report on death penalties around the world doesn't include information from Beijing, where state secrecy shrouds the "thousands of executions that were likely to have taken place in China."
The group said there were 714 known executions in 2009, with 16 countries carrying out death penalties. The 2,001 death sentences were given over 56 counties.
Amnesty International, which deems the death penalty as "cruel and degrading and an affront to human dignity," said Iran carried out 388 executions, Iraq had at least 120, Saudi Arabia 69 and the United States 52.
The report, "Death Sentences and Executions in 2009," said about one-third of the executions in Iran occurred between the re-election and inauguration of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Amnesty International said, with Burundi and Togo having abolished the death penalty, 95 countries have banned the practice. It also said there were no executions carried out in Europe in 2009.
