1,677 on death row in Nigeria- Amnesty

Amnesty International yesterday disclosed that in 1,677 people, including five foreign nationals were on death row in Nigeria in 2015.
Quoting figures from the Nigerian Prisons Service, Amnesty said 171 people were sentenced to death last year. This, it said, was a 74% drop from the 659 death sentences recorded in 2014.
The human rights watchdog, in a report released yesterday, said Nigeria did not carry out executions in 2015, as the last ones took place in 2013.
The report tagged, “Death Sentences and Executions 2015”, said in Nigeria, 26 convicts were granted pardon, 41 death row prisoners were exonerated while 121 death sentences were commuted.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of death sentences fell sharply from 909 in 2014 to 443 in 2015, the report said.
This, it added, was due to a significant drop in the number of people sentenced to death in Nigeria. Globally, Amnesty said at least 20,292 people were on death row, while 1,634 people were executed in 25 countries at the end of 2015, 573 more than in 2014.
China executed over 1,000 followed by Iran with 977, Pakistan 326, Saudi Arabia 158 and United States 28.
Of the 43 executions carried out in four African countries, 10 took place in Chad, 25 in Somalia, South Sudan 5 and Sudan 3.
The Amnesty Country Director, Muhammad K. Ibrahim, while presenting the report, said in many countries where people were sentenced to death or executed, the proceedings did not meet international fair trial standards.