Global executions hit decade high, with majority in the Middle East

Global executions hit their highest figure since 2015 last year, with the Middle East accounting for more than 90 percent.

According to Amnesty International, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia were responsible for 91 percent of executions, with the death penalty often being "weaponised" against protesters and ethnic minorities.

They said there had also been a rise in drug-related executions. Over 40 percent of 2024’s executions were carried out "unlawfully" for drug-related offences.

The Amnesty International report Death Sentences and Executions 2024 said that there were 1,518 death penalties carried out across 15 countries last year, the vast majority in the Middle East.

Iraq almost quadrupled its executions, from 16 to at least 63, while Saudi Arabia doubled its yearly total, from 172 to at least 345.

Iran for its part executed 119 more individuals than last year, from 853 to at least 972.

'The escalation in executions in this manner raises serious concerns about the fate of a large number of other detainees facing the same fate amidst a political and sectarian climate'

- Afada Observatory

The report suggested that China was still leading the way in executions, but that it was not possible to verify them.

However, it also noted that the number of countries that carried out executions was the lowest on record.

“The death penalty is an abhorrent crime with no place in today’s world. While secrecy continued to shroud scrutiny in some countries that we believe are responsible for thousands of executions, it’s evident that states that retain the death penalty are an isolated minority," said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general. 

"With just 15 countries carrying out executions in 2024, the lowest number on record for the second consecutive year, this signals a move away from this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment."

Targeting dissidents

Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been repeatedly criticised by rights groups for their use of executions, particularly against dissidents.

In Iraq's case, executions have regularly focused on those suspected of membership of the Islamic State group.

However, monitors say many of the convictions have been unsafe and have lacked due process.

Human Rights Watch said Iraq stepped up the implementation of "unlawful" mass executions last year.

Torture, isolation from family and lawyers, and forced confessions are widespread in Iraqi prisons, while evidence provided in terrorism cases has often been flimsy and, in some cases, linked to disputes over land and businesses.

Afada Observatory, which monitors rights violations within the Iraq prison system, told Middle East Eye that executions were still being carried out in Iraq "in conditions that lack even the most basic standards of transparency, humanity, and legality".

"It has been revealed that death sentences were carried out based on signatures issued despite medical and human rights reports confirming the detainees' ill-treatment, in the absence of the necessary review or investigation before carrying out such serious sentences," it said.

"The escalation in executions in this manner raises serious concerns about the fate of a large number of other detainees facing the same fate amidst a political and sectarian climate."

In November, an AFP tally found that Saudi Arabia executed over 100 foreigners in 2024 - the highest total of foreigners executed in one year, almost triple the figures for 2023 and 2022.

Saudi human rights defenders and lawyers have accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of overseeing a crackdown on freedom of expression since he came to power.

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This includes the introduction of a counterterrorism law that Human Rights Watch has criticised for its broad definition of terrorism.

At least 1,115 executions have been carried out under bin Salman’s rule between 21 June 2017 and 9 October 2024.

Additionally, according to rights NGO Reprieve, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly lied to the UN about its use of the death penalty.

Iran regularly executes drug dealers and political dissidents. Following the Mahsa Amini protests in 2022, Iran carried out mass arrests of government critics. At least 10 people were executed over their involvement in the protests.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights organisation said in January that at least 31 women were executed during 2024, the highest number since it began monitoring the death penalty 17 years ago.

"The execution numbers have been dramatically increasing since the start of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in 2022," its director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told MEE, referring to the protests over Amini, who died after being detained by police in Tehran over her headscarf.

"Iranian authorities use the death penalty as a tool of political suppression, to instil fear in the society in order to prevent new protests."