Global executions hit the highest level since 2015, with serious increases mainly in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, Amnesty International said in its 2023 annual report on the global use of the death penalty on Wednesday

1,153 executions were recorded in 2023 globally, marking an increase of more than 30 per cent from 2022. In countries such as Iran, the death penalty was given to drug-related offenses, with authorities violating international restrictions on the use of the death penalty. The report highlighted that using the death penalty for such offenses, which violates international human rights law standards, especially affects Iran’s most vulnerable communities.

Recorded executions in Sub-Saharan Africa increased by 66 per cent from 11 in 2022 to 38 in 2023, with recorded executions mainly in Somalia. This followed a decreased in 2022, when countries such as Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Zambia abolished the death penalty for varying degrees of crime. No other country in the region has abolished the death penalty since 2022.

Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, pointed out that “recorded executions in sub-Saharan Africa more than tripled from 11 in 2022 to 38 in 2023, although all of them were recorded in Somalia”. She added that:

Despite a reduction in executing countries – from two in 2022 to one in 2023 – the 38 executions recorded was the highest total recorded in the region since 2015, while recorded death sentences increased sharply by 66%, from 298 in 2022 to 494 in 2023.

Amnesty International recorded the highest number of executions in 2023 in countries including China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and the USA. Excluding China, where the use of the death penalty remained shrouded in state secrecy, Iran alone accounted for 74 per cent of all recorded executions and Saudi Arabia accounted for 15 per cent. The USA, the only country in the Americas to carry out executions for 14 consecutive years, also carried out an increased number of executions in 2023. The organization also reported North Korea and Vietnam as countries who use executions considerably, but was unable to include the number of executions.

The report asserted that the death penalty was used in manners that contradict of international law, since many death sentences “were known to have been imposed after proceedings that did not meet international fair trial standards”. It added that the penalty was used for “crimes not involving intentional killing” and cannot satisfy the “threshold of most serious crimes”. Despite the spike in recorded executions last year, 112 countries around the world are now fully abolitionist and 144 in total have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

“The death penalty will again come under scrutiny at this year’s UN General Assembly. Amnesty International urges all governments to rally behind the UN’s call to end the use of the death penalty in a vital show of commitment to human rights,” said Chagutah.