The number of executions around the world soared last year to its highest since 2015, driven by a sharp rise in the use of the death penalty in Iran. At least 1,153 people were executed by governments in 2023, the highest number in eight years, according to a report from Amnesty International released on May 29. Nearly three quarters of all publicly documented executions were enacted by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which executed 853 people this year.
"The Iranian authorities showed complete disregard for human life and ramped up executions for drug-related offenses, further highlighting the discriminatory impact of the death penalty on Iran's most marginalized and impoverished communities," Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General said in a press release.
Iran has ramped up its number of executions, with numbers rising by 48 percent in 2023, up from 576 executions in 2022 Religious and ethnic minorities were disproportionately subjected to the death penalty, particularly Iran’s Baluchi ethnic minority which makes up only 5 percent of the population but represented 20 percent of all executions in 2023, Amnesty found.
Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.