INDEX

When it comes to the execution of death penalties, Saudi Arabia is one of the most prolific country in the world. This is what emerges from a new report published by Amnesty International in August 2015.

The annual report on the death penalty in 2014 shows that the Iranian authorities have executed more than 1193 people since the election of President Rouhani in June 2013. This is an average of more than two executions every day.

The Moroccan Coalition against the Death Penalty held its AGM in Rabat on 27 and 28 February. An unprecedented debate around the death penalty related to terrorism took place during the event.

The World Coalition and its members have criticised decisions by the governments of Jordan and Pakistan to reverse their policy of suspending executions despite a historic vote in favour of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty at the UN General Assembly.

The World Coalition and its members call on UNODC to stop support to Iran as executions for drug trafficking surge.

Several hundred activists, experts and political leaders met in Beirut at the end of January to push the abolitionist cause with the Lebanese authorities and organise their movement at the national level.

After weeks of debates, Tunisia has adopted a new Constitution. As expected by local abolitionists, the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) passed a text allowing capital punishment on 26 January 2014.

Through engagement with members of Parliament, the publication of an unprecedented report on death row conditions and the launch of a new website, the Moroccan abolitionist movement is entering a new dimension.

The United Nations, the European Union and the international community must put the situation of the death penalty at the top of the agenda in their dialogue with Iran.

Ogarit Younan is a co-founder of the Lebanese Association for Civil Rights, which has just joined the World Coalition. She takes stock on the death penalty and abolitionist progress in Lebanon.