Amnesty International has urged all states that retain the death penalty to establish an immediate moratorium on executions as first step towards abolition.

76-year-old Alan Shadrake has been sentenced to jail in Singapore for a book which criticises the country's judiciary over the death penalty.

The Vatican has spoken out against the death sentence handed down to Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz yesterday.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's sentence of death by stoning has been suspended, but Amnesty International insist that it must be scrapped altogether.