ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The number of global executions in 2021 rose by 20 percent with Iran recording the highest number of state-sanctioned killings over the past five years, a rights group said on Tuesday.
Easing coronavirus restrictions coincided with a “worrying increase” in executions across the world last year, Amnesty International said in its annual review of the death penalty.
Iran recorded its highest known execution figure since 2017, accounting for the biggest portion of the total rise.
It executed at least 314 people over the past year, an increase from at least 246 in 2020, Amnesty stated.
“This was due in part to a marked increase in drug-related executions, a flagrant violation of international law which prohibits use of the death penalty for crimes other than those involving intentional killing,” it added.
Iran is one of the biggest death penalty enforcers in the world with the execution rate skyrocketing after current Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August of last year.
Two leading NGOs in April said executions in Iran rose by 25 percent in 2021, with at least 17 women being hanged.
The European parliament in February called on the Iranian government to work towards abolishing the death penalty.
Execution numbers in Saudi Arabia also rose to more than double, according to Amnesty.
“Iran and Saudi Arabia once again ramped up their use of the death penalty last year, including by shamelessly violating prohibitions put in place under international human rights law,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnes Callamard said.
Saudi Arabia executed 81 people for terrorism in March.
It has previously carried out death sentences by beheading.
