More people were executed in 2024 than in any other year over the past decade, mainly reflecting a huge increase in executions in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Axar.az reports, citing Guardian, according to Amnesty International’s annual report on the use of the death penalty.

The human rights NGO said that although the number of countries carrying out executions was the lowest on record, it had confirmed 1,518 executions globally in 2024, a 32% increase over the previous year and the highest since the 1,634 carried out in 2015.

The real total was far higher, Amnesty added, because its figure did not include thousands believed to have been executed in China, the world’s biggest executioner, or North Korea and Vietnam, also thought to use the death penalty extensively.

Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which accounted for 91% of executions worldwide, were responsible for the increase. Iraq almost quadrupled its executions from at least 16 to at least 63 and Saudi Arabia doubled its yearly total from 172 to at least 345.

Iran executed 119 more people than in 2023, raising its tally to at least 972 – a figure that included 30 women and represented 64% of the global total. All known executions in Iraq were for terrorism offences, while about half of those in Iran were for drug-related offences.

The statment stated that the Iranian government uses the death penalty as a tool to silence ethnic and religious minorities and opposition.

It should be noted that according to unofficial reports, the number of executions in Iran last year was 1,050.