Malaysia is one of 11 countries worldwide that continuously carried out the death penalty every year for the past five years.

This was revealed in the annual “Amnesty International Global Report: Death Sentences and Execution” for 2017 which was launched today.

Among the 11 countries were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the US, Afghanistan, Japan and N Korea.

In 2017, at least four executions were carried out in Malaysia though Amnesty believes the number is likely to be higher.

“The four executions figure reflects only the cases we are aware of since no official figures were made public last year.

“The true figure could be much higher but the veil of secrecy that surrounds the use of the death penalty in our country makes it impossible to have even a glimpse of the real picture.

“This shows that there is still much work to do in ending the death penalty in Malaysia,” said Amnesty International Malaysia interim executive director Gwen Lee at the launch of the report in Petaling Jaya.

With the four executions, she said that Malaysia is among 23 countries that collectively executed at least 993 people globally.

This was was a four percent decrease from 2016 which recorded 1,032 executions worldwide.

These figures do not include China which has also classified the relevant figures as a state secret.

'Tackle root causes'

In Malaysia, Lee (above) said the amendment to the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) which introduced sentencing discretion in drug trafficking cases was a “baby step”.

She said she hoped to see Malaysia enact more positive changes related to abolishing the death penalty soon.

She also pointed out that no country in Southeast Asia had done away with their death penalty and authorities in six nations had sentenced people to death for drug-related crimes which were a violation of international law.

Executions carried out for drug-related offences were recorded in Iran, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and China and Amnesty said it also believed executions for such offences were also carried out in Vietnam and Malaysia.

“It is deeply concerning that so many governments in our region are still claiming that executions are needed to tackle crime even though there is absolutely no evidence to back this up.

“Instead of sending people to die, states should implement policies to tackle the root causes that lead people to enter drug markets.

“Countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific that still cling to the death penalty need to wake up and realise that they are on the wrong side of history.

“This cruel and inhuman punishment has no place in any society,” said Amnesty International Southeast Asia and the Pacific director James Gomez, in a related statement.