Global use of death penalty including beheadings and public hangings doubles in a year with US, Saudi Arabia and China contributing to 'alarming spike' in executions, Amnesty reveals

By ELIANA SILVER, SENIOR FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 01:01, 18 May 2026 | Updated: 01:01, 18 May 2026 Global executions more than doubled in 2025, reaching their highest recorded level in over 40 years as countries including the US, Saudi Arabia and China fuelled what Amnesty International described as an 'alarming spike' in the use of the death penalty. According to Amnesty's latest annual review of capital punishment, at least 2,707 people were executed across 17 countries during the year - the highest number documented by the organisation since it began monitoring executions in 1981. The figure marked a dramatic rise from the at least 1,518 executions recorded in 2024, with Amnesty blaming a small group of states for driving the increase through what it described as fear-based governance and repression. Iran was responsible for the overwhelming majority of executions worldwide, carrying out at least 2,159 deaths in 2025 alone.  The total was more than double the country's figure from the previous year and amounted to almost six executions every day. Saudi Arabia also escalated its use of capital punishment, recording at least 356 executions, many of them linked to drug offences. Together, Iran and Saudi Arabia accounted for 93 per cent of all known executions globally. Amnesty said the real global total was likely far higher because thousands more executions are believed to have taken place in China, where death penalty data remains hidden under state secrecy laws.  Four Iranians hang limply from the nooses during public execution in the southern city of Shiraz Death chamber gurney at the Huntsville prison in Texas The organisation said China continued to be the world's leading executioner, while a lack of transparency in Vietnam and North Korea also obscured the true scale of executions. Several other countries recorded steep increases in executions over the past year. Kuwait increased its total from six to 17 executions, Egypt rose from 13 to 23, Singapore nearly doubled from nine to 17, while executions in the US climbed from 25 to 47. The US total was the country's highest since 2009. Florida alone carried out 19 executions, the highest number recorded in the state in a single year since 1972. Amnesty's report documented a range of execution methods in 2025, including public hangings, beheadings, shootings, lethal injections and the use of nitrogen gas asphyxiation in the US. At least 17 public executions were carried out in Afghanistan and Iran, while Iran and Saudi Arabia also executed at least three people for crimes committed when they were minors. The report found that the expansion of hardline anti-drug policies played a major role in the global rise in executions. Nearly half of all known executions worldwide, 1,257 in total, were for drug-related offences. These took place in China, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. Iran carried out 998 drug-related executions, while Saudi Arabia executed 240 people for similar offences. The number of known executions linked to drugs almost doubled compared with the previous year.  Amnesty also noted that Algeria, Kuwait and the Maldives had pursued new legislative measures aimed at widening the use of the death penalty for drug crimes. Meanwhile, Burkina Faso adopted draft legislation that would bring back the death penalty for crimes including 'high treason,' 'terrorism,' and 'acts of espionage.' Authorities in Chad also established a commission to examine whether executions should be reintroduced. Despite the sharp rise in executions globally, Amnesty said the countries carrying them out remained a small minority. China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the US, Vietnam and Yemen have consistently carried out executions every year over the past five years, according to the organisation. Japan, South Sudan, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates resumed executions during 2025.  Overall, only 16 of the UN's 193 member states were known to have carried out executions during the year. A member of the Yemeni security forces executes one of nine men, convicted of involvement in the assassination of Huthi political leader Saleh al-Sammad Police officers stand guard behind suspects during a public sentencing rally in Baokang, China Iranian policemen prepare Majid Kavousifar for his execution by hanging in Tehran Amnesty said some regions continued moving away from capital punishment entirely. No executions or death sentences were recorded anywhere in Europe or Central Asia. Somalia and South Sudan were the only countries in Sub-Saharan Africa known to have carried out executions, while Afghanistan remained the only South Asian country to do so.  In Southeast Asia, executions were only known to have taken place in Singapore and Vietnam. Tonga remained the sole Pacific nation retaining the death penalty in law. Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International Secretary General, said: 'This alarming spike in the use of the death penalty is due to a small, isolated group of states willing to carry out executions at all costs, despite the continued global trend towards abolition.  'From China, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia to Yemen, Kuwait, Singapore and the USA, this shameless minority are weaponising the death penalty to instil fear, crush dissent and show the power state institutions hold over disadvantaged people and marginalised communities. 'It's time for executing countries to step into line with the rest of the world and leave this abhorrent practice in the past. The death penalty does not make us safer. Rather, it is an irreversible affront against humanity driven by fear, with utter disregard for international human rights law. 'With human rights under threat around the world, millions of people continue to fight against the death penalty each year in a powerful demonstration of our shared humanity.  'Total abolition is possible if we all stand strong against the isolated few. We must keep the flame of abolition burning bright until the world is entirely free from the shadows of the gallows.' The report also emphasised continued progress towards abolition in many countries. Amnesty noted that when it first launched its anti-death penalty campaign in 1977, only 16 countries had abolished capital punishment entirely. That number has now risen to 113. During 2025, Vietnam removed the death penalty for eight offences, including drug transportation, bribery and embezzlement, while Gambia abolished it for murder, treason and other crimes against the state. Legislation aimed at ending cafpital punishment was introduced in Lebanon and Nigeria, while Kyrgyzstan's Constitutional Court ruled that attempts to restore the death penalty would violate the constitution. And in the US, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey granted clemency to Rocky Myers, becoming the first Black death row prisoner in the state to receive clemency. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. 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