Momentum is growing for an end to capital punishment after Amnesty International’s latest analysis revealed a big drop in executions. The Annual Death Penalty Statistics show a worldwide trend towards abolition with an encouraging 25 per cent decrease in executions and death sentences in 2006. Last year, the Philippines became the 99th country to abolish the death penalty for ordinary crimes, while Georgia and Moldova removed provisions for the death penalty from their constitutions. 91 per cent of all known executions in 2006 took place in six countries: China, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Pakistan and the USA.
