Misblog

If the International Olympic Committee awarded medals for the execution of human beings, an activity many of the competing nations excel at, China would take home the gold.

Outdistancing its nearest competitor by many an order of magnitude¹.

Quoting Sweden, constitutionally abolishing the death penalty in 1975, from a current Amnesty International report:

Sweden: "[…] More than 80% of the total number of executions in the world today take place in China where a shockingly high number of crimes can lead to the death penalty. This is certainly not in the Olympic spirit."

Texas' execution binge places the United States within medal contention.

Web: UPDATED 09/14/2007 China to reduce death penalty use

-----notes-----

1. UPDATED "In 2006 91 per cent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Pakistan and the USA. Based on public reports available, Amnesty International estimated that at least 1,010 people were executed in China during the year, although these figures are only the tip of the iceberg. Credible sources suggest that between 7,500 to 8,000 people were executed in 2006.

Iran executed 177 people, Pakistan 82 and Iraq and Sudan each at least 65. There were 53 executions in 12 states in the USA." --Amnesty International 2006 Report--

Technorati Tags: ioc, olympic games, death penalty, amnesty international, china