Last year, 1,153 known executions were carried out in the world, according to the figures produced by Amnesty.
This is an increase of 31 percent from the 883 executions carried out the year before. This is the highest figure in eight years.
Amnesty singles out Iran as the reason for the increase in the number. There will be 48 percent more executions in 2023 compared to the previous year. Somalia, Yemen and the USA have also increased.
At the same time, there were fewer countries that carried out executions compared to 2022, from 20 countries to 16.
Amnesty clarifies in its report that the figures refer to known executions. Several countries in the world keep secret or are vague with their information on carried out death sentences. The figures exclude China completely, as those figures are classified as state secrets.
“The true figure is probably higher,” writes Amnesty in the report.