United Kingdom: A new report by Amnesty International has revealed that the number of known executions in 2022 has reached its highest point in the last five years. According to the report, 883 people were executed, excluding China, where thousands are believed to have been executed. The use of the death penalty for drug offences has raised concerns among human rights activists.

The report further states that the number of executions has increased by over 50 percent compared to the previous year. Amnesty International has expressed serious concerns about the use of the death penalty, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, where 90 percent of the world’s known executions outside China were carried out in just three countries.

Iran executed 576 people last year, while Saudi Arabia executed 196, which is the highest recorded number of executions in 30 years. Egypt executed 24 people, according to the report.

“Countries in the Middle East and North Africa region violated international law as they ramped up executions in 2022, revealing a callous disregard for human life,” Mr. Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, noted in a statement.

In total, 20 countries were known to have used the death penalty last year, with five countries resuming executions, including Myanmar’s military regime, which shocked the world last July by hanging four of its political opponents in the first executions since the 1980s.

Amnesty noted that close to 40 percent of all the executions carried out last year were for drug-related offences and took place in Iran (255), Saudi Arabia (57), and Singapore (11). “People were probably also executed for drug crimes in China and Vietnam, where the use of the death penalty remains a state secret,” the statement added.

Under international human rights law, those countries that retain the death penalty are supposed to use it only for ‘the most serious crimes‘ that involve intentional killing.

“It is time for governments and the UN to up the pressure on those responsible for these blatant human rights violations and ensure international safeguards are put in place,” Mr. Callamard further remarked.

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