Three Countries, Obama's BFF Iran leading Were Responsible for 70 Percent of the World’s Executions in 2014.

Three nations Obama's BFF Iran leading then Iraq, and Saudi Arabia — were responsible for 70 percent of the executions recorded by Amnesty. (Vice).

Conflict and terrorism led governments around the world to execute nearly 500 more people last year than they did in 2013, prompting Amnesty International to express alarm over the increase on Wednesday in the human rights organization's annual report on capital punishment.

While executions were up, Amnesty reported that the number of new death sentences handed down fell by a sizable 22 percent to 607 worldwide in 2014, even as Egypt, Nigeria, and other nations responded to "real or perceived threats to state security."

Since 2009, Amnesty's report has excluded executions in China due to a lack of reliable data from the country, which is believed to put more people to death than the rest of the world combined. Researchers were similarly unable to estimate or distinguish judicial executions from other forms of violence in Syria, where a four-year civil war has claimed the lives of some 220,000 people.

Twenty-two countries carried out executions in 2014, the same as the previous year, but seven of those were states that resumed judicial killings after a hiatus of one or more years. Those countries were Belarus, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Jordan, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates.

Three nations — Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia — were responsible for 70 percent of the executions recorded by Amnesty. Activists at the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center said the Iranian government's official capital punishment toll of 289 is likely much higher. The activists put the figure at 721, with a majority of inmates put to death for drug crimes — an application of the penalty that opponents say is particularly heinous. Already this year, the Center has reported 258 executions in Iran, only 73 of which were announced by the government.

In Saudi Arabia, where Amnesty recorded at least 90 executions, some of the cases stemmed from accusations of witchcraft and sorcery, according to the report.

The US remains one of the few industrialized countries that carries out executions. American courts put 35 people to death in 2014, four fewer than the year before. Inmates were executed in seven US states, but only four — Texas, Missouri, Florida, and Oklahoma — accounted for 89 percent of the executions. Read the full story here.

Related: 'Moderate' Iranian Pres Rouhani's 'Admin' executed 500 people in six months.


Total number of executions in 2012 under Ahmadinejad:

Total in 2012: 522
Announced By Government in 2012: 292

Total in 2013: Total in 2013: 624

Announced By Government in 2013: 334

2013 number executed under Rouhani's presidency starting August 2013 see chart.

Notice the halt of executions in May 2013 and the sudden Restart under Rouhani as from October!