1 week Ago By The Telegraph
The number of global executions has soared to the highest figure in a decade, a new report by Amnesty International has found. At least 1,518 people were killed by capital punishment in 2024, the highest recorded number since 2015 and a 32 per cent increase from the previous year, said the group in its annual report on the global use of the death penalty. Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia were responsible for the “sharp spike” in known executions last year, the report said, together accounting for 92 per cent or 1,380 of recorded deaths.
The true total is probably far higher, however, because China is believed to carry out more executions than any other country but is not included in the report because the number of deaths cannot be verified. North Korea and Vietnam were also excluded from the final estimate, as access to information is similarly restricted. The surge in deaths comes amid accusations that states are weaponising the death penalty against protesters and minorities, Amnesty said.
“Those who dare challenge authorities have faced the most cruel of punishments,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “Particularly in Iran and Saudi Arabia, with the death penalty used to silence those brave enough to speak out.” Last year, the authorities in Iran sentenced at least two people to death who took part in protests against the regime’s treatment of women, including a young person with a mental disability.
Before they were executed, both were subjected to “unfair trials and torture-tainted ‘confessions’,”Amnesty said. Overall, Iran executed at least 972 people last year – some 64 per cent of the global total. In the United States, where 25 people were executed last year, President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use the death penalty as a tool to protect Americans “from violent rapists, murderers and monsters”.
The report called Trump’s remarks “dehumanising”, and accused him of promoting “a false narrative that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect on crime”. The report also found a concerning surge in countries sentencing people to death for drug-related offences, despite this not meeting the “most serious crime” threshold which execution must be restricted to under international human rights law. All of the drug-related executions took place in China, Iran, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
At least 42 per cent of all known executions in 2024 were carried out for such offices, which the report said “has been found to disproportionately impact those from disadvantaged backgrounds”. Last month, China executed four Canadian nationals on drug-related charges, in a rare instance of the country enforcing the death penalty against Westerners. Responding to attempts to intervene to stop the executions, China told Canada it “should respect the rule of law and stop interfering in China’s judicial sovereignty”.
Ms Callamard called the death penalty an “ineffective and unlawful solution” for drug-related offences, adding that states considering introducing capital punishment for such crimes, including Nigeria, the Maldives and Tonga, “must be called out”. However, there were some positive developments made in 2024, increasing hopes that the penalty will eventually be abolished globally. Despite the rise in executions, the practice was carried out by just 15 countries, the lowest number on record.
The methods of execution included death by beheading, hanging, lethal injection, shooting and nitrogen gas asphyxiation. In December, the president of Zimbabwe abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes and Zambia, which banned the death penalty in 2023, made the move irreversible. In the same month, more than two thirds of all UN member states voted in favour of a resolution calling for a temporary ban on capital punishment.
There were also several cases around the world where campaigns led to execution convictions being overturned. Hakamada Iwao, a former professional boxer who was the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, was acquitted by a Japanese court after it found that evidence used against him was fabricated. In the US, a Californian federal court ordered a review of 34 capital convictions in Alameda County based on evidence of systematic discrimination in jury selection, leading to the re-sentencing of 18 individuals.
“Despite the minority of leaders determined to weaponise the death penalty, the tide is turning,” said Ms Gallard. “It’s only a matter of time until the world is free from the shadows of the gallows.” Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security.
