Amnesty Publishes Death Penalty Report

The group says more than 2,300 people were executed in 2008 as compared with over 1,200 in 2007.

The total number of executions reported from Asia was 1,838, led by China.

The report lists Pakistan with at least 36 executions, followed by Vietnam (19), Afghanistan (17) North Korea (15), Japan (15), Indonesia (10) and Bangladesh (5).

Amnesty has, however, also said that there has been a trend in recent years for the abandonment of the death sentences.

It said just 59 nations still retained the death penalty and that only 25 of these carried out executions last year.