Amnesty says global executions hit 40-year high, driven by Iran

Amnesty International says the number of executions carried out worldwide rose sharply last year to its highest level in more than four decades, with Iran accounting for the bulk of the increase. The rights group said more than 2,700 people were executed globally in the period covered by its new report, and about 2,100 of those executions took place in Iran. It said the figures marked the highest annual total since 1981.

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The report, released on Monday, said the global total represented a 78% increase compared with 2024. Amnesty said its figures were based on reports and work carried out with human rights organisations. It also said Iranian authorities intensified executions after the 12-day war with Israel in June 2025, describing the death penalty as being used more aggressively under the guise of national security.

Amnesty said the increase in Iran reflected a broader pattern of political repression. The organisation said the authorities had stepped up use of capital punishment in the aftermath of hostilities with Israel, following Israeli military strikes against Iran in June 2025. It said the scale of executions in Iran made the country the main driver of the global rise, and the annual figure there was the highest recorded by the group since 1981.

The findings matter because they point to a sharp deterioration in the use of the death penalty at a time of heightened regional tension. Amnesty said authoritarian governments were increasingly using executions and other forms of repression to control dissent. The report also placed Iran within a wider pattern of states using capital punishment for political control, including in parts of Asia.

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The report said China, Vietnam and North Korea continue to carry out executions in secret, while Myanmar has seen an alarming rise in death sentences. Amnesty said it does not publish a figure for China because the authorities do not release official data, but it still considers the country the world's leading executioner. It also noted that countries near Australia, including Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, are not carrying out executions despite many people remaining on death row.

What remains unclear is how many of the Iranian executions were linked directly to security cases, and how many were for other offences. Amnesty's report does not provide a breakdown in the supplied material, and the Iranian authorities have not been quoted in the row responding to the findings. The next point to watch is whether the report prompts further international pressure on Tehran and whether other countries named by Amnesty respond to its wider warning about the global use of capital punishment.

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