JAKARTA, RAKYAT NEWS – Executions worldwide surged to their highest level since 2015, with at least 1,518 people executed in 2024—a 32% increase from 2023—according to Amnesty International’s Death Sentences and Executions 2024 report. While Indonesia hasn’t carried out executions since 2016, its courts imposed 85 new death sentences last year, mostly for drug offenses, contributing to a global death row population of 28,085.

The death penalty remains concentrated in a shrinking number of countries, with **China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Yemen** responsible for most executions. China likely executed thousands, though data is suppressed. Disturbingly, over 40% of global executions were for drug crimes, violating international law, which restricts capital punishment to the “most serious offenses.”

Indonesia’s continued use of death sentences contradicts global trends. Despite no executions in eight years, courts handed down 64 drug-related death sentences in 2024, along with 21 for murder. This hypocrisy was underscored by Usman Hamid, Executive Director of Amnesty Indonesia, who noted: “Judges keep sentencing people to die while the government avoids executions. This duality undermines justice.”

Neighboring Malaysia, meanwhile, has taken bold steps toward abolition, commuting over 1,000 death sentences since ending mandatory capital punishment. “Indonesia should follow Malaysia’s lead,” urged Hamid. “The death penalty doesn’t enhance security—it perpetuates cycles of violence.”

The report also exposed how governments exploit executions to silence dissent. Iran and Saudi Arabia targeted protesters and minorities, while the U.S. executed 25 people in 2024, with President Trump openly advocating expanded use of capital punishment.

 

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty’s Secretary-General, condemned the practice: “The death penalty is a failed deterrent wielded by regimes clinging to brutality.”

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