The number of countries that executed citizens for various crimes was the lowest at 15 in 2024, but the count of state executions globally rose to 1,518, marking a 32% increase over the previous year and the highest since the 2015 figure of 1,634, said Amnesty International in its annual report on the use of the death penalty.

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The report, released on Tuesday (April 8), further cautioned that the real total is likely to be thousands more as its figure did not include the executions believed to have taken place in China, the world’s biggest executioner, North Korea, and Vietnam.

More people were executed in 2024 due to a huge increase in executions in Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
Amnesty said that although the number of countries carrying out executions was the lowest on record, 1,518 executions globally in 2024 denoted a 32% increase over the previous year and the highest since the 1,634 carried out in 2015.

Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia carried out 91% of total executions

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Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia accounted for 91% of state executions worldwide and were the main culprits for the increase. In Iraq, executions quadrupled from 16 to 63, and those in Saudi Arabia doubled in a year from 172 to 345.
Iran executed at least 972, including 30 women, 119 more than in 2023, and accounted for 64% of the global total. 
While the executions in Iraq were for terrorism offences, about half of those in Iran were for drug-related crimes.

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Other countries where executions increased were Egypt (from eight in 2023 to 13 last year); Singapore (from five to nine); and Yemen, where the count more than doubled from 15 to 38. Yemen was also among the top five countries responsible for executions.

There were a total of 25 executions in the US, one more than in 2023 and the most since 2018, in what was Joe Biden’s last year in office. 
Biden’s successor, Donald Trump, has said he aims to “vigorously pursue” the death penalty as a tool to protect people “from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters”.

Only 15 countries executed people in 2024, the lowest on record for the second year running, Amnesty said, adding that 113 countries were now fully abolitionist and 145 had abolished the death penalty in law or in practice.

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The human rights NGO also noted that several countries had legally limited their use of the death penalty, and more than two-thirds of all UN member states had voted in favour of a resolution on a moratorium.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said countries that retained the death penalty were an “isolated minority” as the tide was turning against “a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment”.
But the death penalty is still being weaponised in some countries under the “false pretence” that it would improve public safety and in others to silence political dissent from “those brave enough to speak out”, Callamard added.
More than 40% of executions in 2024 were for drug-related offences, which have no proven effect in reducing drug trafficking, Amnesty said.

Iran used death sentence to punish participants in 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests 

Amnesty said Iran “persisted” in its use of death sentences to punish participants in the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests of 2022, including a youngster with a mental disability, following unfair trials and torture-tainted ‘confessions’ and alone accounted for 64% of all known executions.
Saudi Arabia continued to use the death penalty to silence political dissent and punish members of its Shiite minority, it added.
“Those who dare challenge authorities have faced the most cruel of punishments, particularly in Iran and Saudi Arabia,” said Callamard.

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The NGO warned that the Maldives, Nigeria, and Tonga are considering introducing capital punishment for drug-related offences, while the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso have announced plans to bring back executions for ordinary crimes.