American justice ranked alongside world's most repressive regimes

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=509209

America is just one of just four countries responsible for 84 per cent of executions around the world last year, a report released yesterday by Amnesty International said.

The report groups the US with China, Iran and Vietnam as one of the countries responsible for the overwhelming majority of executions worldwide. It puts America ahead of Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo for known executions ­ although in many countries complete figures are unknown. The US and China were the only countries in the world to execute child offenders last year, the report says.

At least 1,146 people were executed in 2003, down from 1,526 in 2002 and 3,048 in 2001, according to Amnesty's figures. China headed the list, far ahead of all other countries, with at least 726 confirmed executions.

Unlike many of the other countries mentioned, there is no secrecy about executions in the US, and complete figures are known.