The Death Penalty

Execution in Iran © WCADP

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It violates the right to life. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments.

Amnesty International works for an end to executions and the abolition of the death penalty everywhere.

Progress has been dramatic. In 1977 only 16 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Today the figure stands at 88.

Saddam Hussein Execution

Saddam Hussein was hanged on the first day of Eid ul-Adha, December 30, 2006 at approximately 06:00 local time (03:00 GMT). The execution took place at the Iraqi army base Camp Justice in Kazimain, northeast of Baghdad, a base once used by Saddam as his military intelligence headquarters, then known as Camp Banzai, where thousands of civilians were taken to be tortured and murdered in the same gallows. Contrary to initial reports, Saddam was executed alone, and not at the same time as his co-accused Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, who will be executed after the Eid ul-Adha holiday.

At the time of his hanging, Saddam refused to wear a hood. Before he was hanged an Islamic prayer was read out to him and he repeated it. Film footage has been aired on American television up to the time of the noose being wrapped round his neck. Cell phone video has since been leaked to the Internet.