Amnesty International: new report highlights the highest number of executions in 2024 since 2015
Amnesty International, in its annual report on the global use of the death penalty issued in April 2025, reported that 1,518 executions were reported in 2024 which is the highest number since 2015. The report clarifies that the estimates excluded the number of executions carried out in states like China, North Korea and Vietnam who resort to the death penalty extensively.
Special attention was placed on Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia as countries responsible for 91% of the executions. Altogether, the three countries were responsible for an astounding 1,380 documented executions. Iraq nearly increased its executions fourfold and Saudi Arabia twice its annual figure, while Iran executed 119 additional people compared to 2023 representing 64% of all documented executions.
As Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General underlines “[T]he death penalty is an abhorrent practice with no place in today’s world.” Today, 113 countries are fully abolitionist and 145 states in total have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
A pertinent issue raised in the report was the weaponisation of the death penalty by authorities. In 2024, Amnesty International observed that leaders made use of the death penalty, falsely claiming it would enhance public safety. In the USA, there has been a consistent increase in executions since the conclusion of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 25 individuals executed (compared to 24 in 2023). Recently elected President Trump continually referenced the death penalty as a means to safeguard individuals from people such as rapists and murderers. The report also mentioned that in the Middle East, the death penalty was used as an instrument to silence opponents, human rights defenders and dissidents. Moreover, the report found that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burkina Faso also intend to resume executions and the death penalty for ordinary crimes.
The report mentions that over 40% of the executions carried out in 2024 were unlawful and related to drug related offences despite international law stating that the use of death penalty must be restricted to “most serious offences”. The sentencing of people to death for such crimes disproportionately affects youth and those from disadvantaged backgrounds but does not contribute to reducing drug trafficking. Finally, the report acknowledged the power of campaigning to end the death penalty which has bore positive results.