PARIS: Iran put to death over 2,150 people last year, a “staggering” increase that pushed recorded worldwide executions to their highest level since 1981, Amnesty International said Monday.
Amnesty said it had confirmed the executions of at least 2,707 people globally in 2025. Of these cases, 2,159 were in Iran, a figure more than double that of 2024, Amnesty said.
But the UK-based rights group said that, as in previous years, its total “does not include the thousands of executions” that it believed were carried out in China, the world’s most prolific user of the death penalty, due to “the state secrecy” over data.
Amnesty said the figure of at least 2,707 people executed in 2025 represented an increase by more than two-thirds on the total the previous year.
“This trend was strongest in countries where the authorities have tightened their grip on power by restricting civic space, silencing dissent and displaying disregard for protections established under international human rights law and standards,” it added.
