Executions at 10-year high after huge increases in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia

A protester at a demonstration in the US against the use of the death penalty in Iran, which executed at least 972 people last year. Photograph: Allison Bailey/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

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, 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.