Seven people were executed by hanging in South Sudan in the month of February; a trend Amnesty International says is shocking.
Amnesty International says it is dismayed at the rising use of the death penalty in the country.
According to the rights’ group, at least seven men were executed by hanging in February alone, including three members of the same family.
The group adds that most of those executed had been convicted of murder but at least three of the cases were shrouded in secrecy and relatives only learnt of the deaths after they had been executed.
Amnesty International says the South Sudanese authorities executed more people in 2018 than in any other year since its independence in 2011.
The organisation's deputy director for East Africa Seif Magango says that if the trend continues it could "possibly compete with the likes of China and Iran" in terms of the numbers executed.
