seventeen but the group is also warning that the true number of people put to death is not known some countries treat execution numbers as a state secret china for example and as is often the case in china and in a handful of other nations executing its citizens capital punishment is often very public. in iran responsible for carrying out small then hoff of the well it's not executions last year that's according to amnesty international's latest think is in dozens of those cases that meant public execution in iran drug trafficking and blasphemy are among those crimes punishable by death. at least five people were executed in iran for acts committed when they were still under eighteen. and that just four countries were responsible for eighty four percent of all recorded executions last year iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan but the country