Chinese soldiers in Tiananmen Square for National Day, October 1, 2008. Photo: Flickr user poeloq

Approximately 5,727 executions were carried out worldwide in 2008, down from 5,851 the year before. China carried out the death penalty over 5,000 times last year, according to a report by Italian human rights group Hands Off Cain. This figure is an estimate put together based on media and human rights group reports, since the actual total is a state secret. Amnesty International reported a much lower estimate of 1,718 executions.

According to Harry Wu, a human rights expert who spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps before coming to the United States:

The truth is, nobody really knows how many people are executed every year in China. We have classified documents that state that as many as 24,000 people were killed in an eleven month period between 1983 and 1984 during the government’s ‘strike hard’ campaign. But the number could be as high as 8,000 a year now.

Use of the death penalty in China has dropped dramatically since 2001, when China began readying for the Beijing Olympics.

State-run newspaper China Daily reported Wednesday on the pledge by Zhang Jun, vice president of the Supreme People’s Court, who said that China will continue to use the death penalty in serious cases where social stability was threatened:

As it is impossible for the country to abolish capital punishment under current realities and social security conditions, it is an important effort to strictly control the application of the penalty by judicial organs.

In 2008, the Chinese courts sentenced 159,020 people either to death, life imprisonment, or more than five years in prison.

Currently, China uses the death penalty for 60 different offenses, including tax evasion and drug trafficking.

Just days ago, in an unprecedented move, Sichuan province put to death a company executive who had killed four people while drunk driving.

The government is expected to announce soon how many citizens will be executed for their participation in the recent riots in the northwestern Xinjiang province.

Since 2006, many of China’s executions are carried out in 40 “mobile execution units,” vans manufactured by a Chonqing-based company in which lethal injection is locally administered. This saves the government from sending death penalty criminals to Beijing, which costs around $250. But about half of Chinese executions reportedly are still by firing squad.

Of the 45 other countries that still use the death penalty, Iran and Saudi Arabia had the highest per capita death penalty rates in 2008, with 346 and 102 executions, respectively. Also, Amnesty International reports that the Iranians and Saudis still use stoning and beheading, respectively, as means of capital punishment. Both nations continue to execute minors.

The United States executed 37 people last year, continuing a downward trend that began in 1999, when 98 people were put to death.

According to Amnesty International, Japan carried out 15 executions last year, the highest number since 1975.

- Ben Piven

Here is a selection of major government shifts around the globe and bloggers’ reactions:

	CUBA: In February, Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba’s president after ruling since 1959. His brother Raúl Castro, also of the Communist Party, is now serving as president. (Feb. 18)	Blogger “Circles Robinson” outlines Cuba’s future under the new Castro, arguing that U.S.-Cuba relations will not change.
	PARAGUAY: Left-wing candidate Fernando Lugo swept to victory in Paraguay’s April elections, ending more than six decades of rule by the right-wing Colorado Party. (April 20)	A writer at “Upside Down World” writes about the historic election from Asunción.
	RUSSIA: Vladimir Putin stepped down as president of Russia after eight years in office in May, handing the job to chosen successor Dmitry Medvedev. (May 7)	Blogger Eugene Ivanov reccomends that Medvedev take several steps to repair U.S.-Russian relations.
	LEBANON: The parliament elected army chief Michel Suleiman as head of state in May, ending a standoff between the U.S.-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition that had lasted for over a year. (May 25)	A blogger at “Independence” writes that calm was somewhat restored to Beirut after Suleiman’s election.
	MAURITANIA: The African nation held its first free elections in more than 20 years in 2007, but in August 2008, a group of military officers staged a coup and took power from the elected government. The coup leader says that Mauritania will hold presidential elections in May 2009. (August 6)	A local government official in Mauritania blogs about the current political situation there.
	PAKISTAN: Pervez Musharraf, who came to power in a 1999 coup, resigned in August. Asif Ali Zardari — head of the Pakistan People Party and husband of its slain former leader Benazir Bhutto — assumed office in September. (August 18)	A blogger bids farewell to the Musharraf era.
	MALDIVES: The small island nation went to the polls for the first time in three decades this year and unseated Asia’s longest-serving ruler. Former political prisoner Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed won a runoff vote. (October 28)	Read the Worldfocus Blogwatch here.
	UNITED STATES: Democrat Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States in November, and will succeed two-term Republican President George W. Bush in late January. (Nov. 4)	Hear how the world reacted to Obama’s election here.
	THAILAND: Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was forced to resign. Replacement Somchai Wongsawat later resigned as a result of anti-government demonstrations. A ruling coalition led by Abhisit Vejjajiva took power in December. (Dec. 17)	Read what a Worldfocus contributing blogger had to say about the future of Thailand.
	GHANA: President John Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party stepped down after two terms in office. A tight presidential race followed, and John Atta Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress party narrowly won in December’s runoff vote. (Dec. 28)	Read what a Worldfocus contributer wrote about the significance of the peaceful election for Africa.
	SOMALIA: President Abdullahi Yusuf resigned in December after acknowledging that Islamist insurgents had gained control over much of the country. The country’s parliament can select a new leader. (Dec. 29)	Read what a Worldfocus contributing blogger had to say about possible Islamist rule in Somalia.
	BANGLADESH: An army-backed interim government lifted the country’s state of emergency to allow for elections for prime minister, and Sheikh Hasina Wajed won a landslide victory. (Dec. 29)	A blogger at “In Asia” writes about Bangladeshis’ hope that the election will lead to successful governance.