Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour). It was answered on Wednesday, 25 April 2007.

Iraq: Death Penalty

Question: My Lords, will my noble friend elaborate on the point about per capita figures? Will he confirm that the absolute numbers in China, Pakistan, Russia, Iran and the United States are higher than those in Iraq? Sometimes some people—not my noble friend Lord Faulkner—raise the question of Iraq for reasons other than concern about capital punishment.

Answer: My Lords, I have sometimes detected that. Perhaps I may make the point about the figures completely clear. Footnote (2) of the Amnesty International report states: "““Iraq was among the countries with the highest number of reported executions per capita in 2006. The annual rate of reported executions in Iraq in 2006””—" on that per capita basis— "““was estimated at 2.7 per one million of the population””." The absolute figures in the countries with which comparisons have been made are very much higher.

Secondary information