Executions worldwide increased by 53% in 2022 from a year earlier, with a significant rise in Iran and Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International said in an annual report Tuesday that also criticized Indonesia as having one of the highest numbers of new death sentences in Asia. The number of executions in Saudi Arabia tripled from 65 in 2021 to 196 in 2022. In all, 20 countries are known to have executed a total of 883 people, compared to 579 in 18 countries in 2021. According to the report, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Singapore carried out at least 325 executions in total for drug-related offenses, more than double the number recorded in 2021. In Malaysia, took steps toward reforming the mandatory death sentences.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 17, 2023 07:34 UTC