Amnesty says Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia executed 1,380 people last year
The rights group said that drug-related offences accounted for more than 40 per cent of all executions globally
The number of people known to have been executed last year was the highest in almost a decade, with Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia responsible for most executions, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
A total of 1,518 executions were recorded worldwide in 2024, the most since 2015 when 1,634 people were killed, the rights group said in its annual report on death sentences.
The figures represent a 32 per cent increase in known executions compared to 2023.
They do not include thousands of people believed to have been executed in China – the world’s leading executioner – as well as in North Korea and Vietnam, Amnesty said.
“The death penalty is an abhorrent crime with no place in today’s world,” said Amnesty’s secretary general, Agnes Callamard.
The non-governmental organisation found that for the second year in a row the number of countries executing citizens remained the lowest on record at 15.