Amnesty: Global Executions Hit 44-Year High in 2025
Iran drove the surge with 2,159 executions, while drug-related offenses accounted for 46% of known cases, Amnesty International said.
- On Sunday, Amnesty International reported that global executions reached a 40-year high in 2025, with at least 2,707 people put to death across 17 countries, marking a 78% increase from 2024.
- Iranian authorities drove the spike by executing at least 2,159 people, more than doubling their 2024 figure, while Saudi Arabia carried out at least 356 executions, with both nations using capital punishment extensively for drug-related offenses.
- In the United States, 47 people were executed in 2025, nearly doubling the 25 executions from 2024, with Florida accounting for 19 of those deaths, described by Amnesty as a "huge spike" concentrated in one state.
- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged that "the way to protect societies is not through executions, but through strong institutions and accountability," while Amnesty International describes capital punishment as the "ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment."
- Despite recent spikes, 113 countries have now fully abolished the death penalty for all crimes, a significant increase from the 16 nations that had abolished it when Amnesty International began its work in 1977.
110 Articles
110 Articles
Iran’s Executions More Than Double in 2025, Making Up 80% of Global Total, New Data Shows
A February 2023 protest in Washington, DC calling for an end to executions and human rights violations in Iran. Photo: Reuters/ Bryan Olin Dozier. The Islamic regime in Iran led the world in documented executions last year, with 2,159 people killed out of a total of 2,707 across 17 nations, according to a report released on Monday by Amnesty International. Iran’s executions surged since 2024, when the regime carried out at least 972. All executi…
Iran was responsible for at least 80 per cent of the 2707 executions recorded in 2025, according to the human rights organization Amnesty International.
Global executions surge to highest recorded figure in 44 years, Amnesty International report says
WASHINGTON (OSV News) -- The number of executions around the globe in 2025 surged to the highest recorded figure in 44 years, a new Amnesty International report said. The May 17 report, titled "Death Sentences and Executions 2025," comes soon after a recent video message from Pope Leo XIV marking 15 years since the abolition of
Executions nearly doubled in the U.S. last year, and soared abroad
The number of executions around the globe spiked to a 44-year high in 2025, according to a new report from Amnesty International, with state-sanctioned killings nearly doubling in the United States in the span of a year.A total of 2,707 people were killed in 17 countries related to criminal charges ranging from drug offenses to acts of political dissidence, the human rights organization reported Sunday. That marks a 78% rise in executions from t…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 37% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
