Report: Worldwide executions down, death sentences up

LONDON, April 1 (UPI) -- The number of executions declined globally in 2014, but death sentences increased, a report by rights advocates Amnesty International said.

The annual report indicated many countries use the threat of a death sentence to maintain internal security, and noted several countries took steps to end capital punishment.

The number of state-sanctioned executions, worldwide fell 22 percent from 778 in 2013 to 607 in 2014. Figures from China, Belarus and Vietnam are regarded as state secrets and thus are not announced; they were not included in the Amnesty International statistics, although the report said China carried out more executions than the rest of the world combined, suggesting thousands in China have been executed or sentenced to death.

Iran led the world with 289 officially announced executions and at least 454 more by the rights group's counting, followed by Saudi Arabia with at least 90 and Iraq with at least 61. Executions in the United States dropped from 39 in 2013 to 35 in 2014.

Pakistan, Jordan, Belarus and Indonesia revived the death penalty, and the report mentioned an increase in executions of those convicted of terrorism.

The rise in death sentences, to 2,466, was largely attributed to legal decisions in Egypt and Nigeria.