Nearly 900 people were executed in 2022, the highest level in five years, according to Amnesty International

Amnesty International denounces the “killing spree” of certain states. In 2022, 883 people were executed in 20 countries, an increase of 53% compared to the previous year, reveals the human rights organization in its annual report on the death penalty published on Tuesday 16 May. According to Amnesty International, “the number of executions recorded in 2022 has reached its highest level for five years”.

“This spike in executions” is due “especially to countries in the Middle East and North Africa, where the recorded figures have increased from 520 in 2021 to 825 in 2022”, notes the NGO. Egypt, for example, executed 24 people in 2022.

A sharp rise in executions in Saudi Arabia and Iran

Two countries, Saudi Arabia and Iran, “were mainly responsible for the significant increase” executions. “Indeed, 94% of them took place in these two countries: 70% in Iran and 24% in Saudi Arabia”, tip Amnesty International (PDF).

In Saudi Arabia, thehe number of executions has tripled, from 65 to 196 – the highest total recorded by the NGO in 30 years. The country “went so far as to execute 81 prisoners in a single day”, notes Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. His report notes 85 death sentences “for offenses related to terrorism”, and 57 for “drug offences”. The resumption of executions related to these latest offenses contributed to the overall increase in the number of people executed in Saudi Arabia. There was indeed a moratorium on these executions since 2020.

In Iran, 576 people were executed in 2022, compared to 314 the previous year. This leap “is largely due to the rise in the number of people executed for murder and drug offences”, in a country where the convictions were handed down “following a trial of flagrant unfairness”, denounces the NGO. In a context of repression of the mobilization born of the death of Mahsa Amini, Amnesty denounces the use of capital punishment “as a tool of political repression”, touching “a disproportionate number of members of ethnic minorities”. Agnès Callamard thus accuses the Iranian regime: “In a desperate attempt to put an end to the popular uprising, the authorities took the lives of people who had only exercised their right to demonstrate.”

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No figures in China or North Korea

Amnesty International finally points out that the total number of executions worldwide in 2022 was actually “significantly higher”because “the secrecy surrounding the use of the death penalty still prevented it from being accurately assessed in several countries, such as China, North Korea and Vietnam”. “Although the precise number of people executed in China is unknown, this country clearly remained at the top of the countries which executed the most”adds Amnesty International.