Global Death Sentences Up

There are fears for an Edinburgh man on death row in Pakistan.

Mohammad Asghar was sentenced to death after being accused of blasphemy. The 70-year old was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2010.

Figures show there was a 28% rise in the global death sentence rate last year, that equates to nearly 2,500 people. The majority of executions happened in Egypt and Nigeria as part of an 'anti-terrorism' crackdown. Recorded executions fell to 607, excluding China where 'thousands' are believed to have been sentenced to death.

Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said:  “In a year when abhorrent summary executions by armed groups were branded on the global consciousness like never before, it is appalling that governments are themselves resorting to more executions in a knee-jerk reaction to combat terrorism and crime. 

“It is shameful that so many states around the world are essentially playing with people's lives - putting people to death for 'terrorism' or to quell internal instability on the ill-conceived premise of deterrence.”