Death penalty is not the norm in the Middle East

Executions in the US, Iran and China were the main focus of demonstrations on Sunday to mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty.

While today 139 countries have abolished capital punishment in law or practice, a handful of countries account for a majority of the world's executions.

Many of the countries that still retain the death penalty are in the Middle East. Besides Iran, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and the Palestinian territories have all executed people this year – and not always for murder. Several of them, but most notably Iran and Saudi Arabia, apply the death penalty for a range of offences such as drug trafficking and sexual misconduct plus, sometimes, religious "crimes" such as apostasy and witchcraft.

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Source: The Guardian, October 12, 2010