It was the highest figure recorded by Amnesty International since 2015, when 1,634 people were known to have been executed. Despite this increase, the number of countries that carried out executions reached the lowest figure on record.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general, said: “The huge spike in recorded executions was primarily down to Iran. The Iranian authorities showed complete disregard for human life and ramped up executions for drug-related offences, further highlighting the discriminatory impact of the death penalty on Iran’s most marginalised and impoverished communities.

“Despite the setbacks that we have seen this year, particularly in the Middle East, countries that are still carrying out executions are increasingly isolated. Our campaigning against this abhorrent punishment works. We will continue until we have put an end to the death penalty.”

The five countries with the highest number of executions in 2023 were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and the USA. Iran alone accounted for 74 per cent of all recorded executions while Saudi Arabia accounted for 15 per cent. Somalia and the USA carried out an increased number of executions in 2023.

There was a 20 per cent increase in the number of death sentences handed out globally in 2023, taking the total to 2,428.

In Iran, the authorities intensified their use of the death penalty to instil fear in the population and tighten their grip on power, carrying out executions across the country. At least 853 people were executed, marking a 48 per cent rise from 576 in 2022. The executions disproportionately impacted Iran’s Baluchi ethnic minority who accounted for 20 per cent of recorded executions even though they make up around 5 per cent of Iran’s population. At least 24 women and at least five people who were children at the time of the crime were executed.

Progress faltered in the USA as executions rose from 18 to 24. Bills to carry out executions by firing squad were introduced in Idaho and Tennessee, while the state assembly of Montana considered a measure to expand the substances used in lethal injections. In South Carolina a new law was signed to conceal the identity of people or entities involved in the preparation or carrying out of executions.

Recorded death sentences and executions surged in sub-Saharan Africa during 2023. Recorded executions in the region more than tripled from 11 in 2022 to 38 in 2023 and recorded death sentences increased sharply by 66 per cent, from 298 in 2022 to 494 in 2023. Furthermore, no country in the region abolished the death penalty in 2023.

Due to state secrecy, Amnesty’s numbers do not include the thousands of people believed to have been executed in China, which remains the world’s lead executioner. Similarly, the organisation was unable to put forward figures for North Korea and Vietnam, countries believed to resort to executions extensively.

However, the limited number of official reports that did emerge from these countries sent clear messages to the public that crime or dissent would be punished by death, showing that the death penalty continued to be a tool in the state weaponry to maintain control and repress dissent.

In China, reports in state media were used to remind people that crimes such as drug trafficking and bribery would be harshly punished and result in execution, while North Korea published a new law that included the death penalty as possible punishment for those who did not use the native Korean language. Meanwhile, military authorities in Myanmar continued to impose death sentences in military-controlled courts, in secretive and grossly unfair proceedings.

“The inherent discrimination and arbitrariness that marks the use of the death penalty have only compounded the human rights violations of our criminal justice systems. The small minority of countries that insist on using it must move with the times and abolish the punishment once and for all,” said Ms Callamard.

“The death penalty will again come under scrutiny at this year’s UN General Assembly. Amnesty International urges all governments to rally behind the UN’s call to end the use of the death penalty in a vital show of commitment to human rights.”