Executions around the world rose to their highest number in nearly a decade in 2023, with a sharp rise in the Middle East, Amnesty International said.
The 1,153 known executions that took place last year were the most recorded by the global rights monitor since 2015 - and a more than 30% increase on 2022.
Despite this, the number of countries that carried out executions was the lowest on record, according to the UK-headquartered NGO.
The figures did not include the "thousands of people" allegedly executed in China, as well as other executions believed to have taken place in North Korea and Vietnam, where there was a lack of data.
"The lowest number of countries on record carried out the highest number of known executions in close to a decade," Amnesty said in its annual report on the subject.
It attributed this to the "alarming" spike in executions in Iran, where numbers spiked nearly 50% annually.
Iranian authorities "ramped up executions for drug-related offences", with the penalty disproportionately affecting marginalised communities, Amnesty's global chief Agnes Callamard said.
China, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and the United States made up the other four countries with the highest number of executions last year.
The report also noted a 20% increase in the number of death sentences handed out globally.
However, the figures showed only 16 countries recorded executions - an all-time low.
Pakistan repealed the death penalty for drug-related crimes and Malaysia abolished the mandatory death penalty for a range of offences.
In the United States, executions rose for the second consecutive year, from 18 to 24.
Five states carried out the executions, all using lethal injection.
The report pointed to the introduction of bills to execute by firing squad in two US states and a new law in South Carolina to conceal the identity of those involved in carrying out executions.
"A select number of US states demonstrated a chilling commitment to the death penalty," Ms Callamard said.
Twenty-three US states have completely abolished the death sentence and another 14 have not carried out executions for at least a decade.
"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", Ms Callamard added.
"The small minority of countries that insist on using it must move with the times and abolish the punishment once and for all."
Death penalty: where is it still in use?
Abolished in 112 countries: The 16 countries that executed prisoners in 2023 was the lowest number on record.
Nearly three-quarters of all countries had abolished capital punishment in law or in practice by the end of 2023.
A total of 112 have abolished it for all crimes, nine others have abolished it for ordinary crimes and a further 23 are considered de-facto abolitionists because they have not executed anyone in a decade.
The only country on the European continent to still apply the death penalty is the former Soviet republic of Belarus, a staunch ally of Russia.
Iran, Saudi surge: The 853 executions confirmed by Amnesty in Iran in 2023 represents a nearly 50% increase over 2022, which itself marked an 83% increase over 2021.
While most were hanged for drug-related offences, 38 were put to death for "corruption on earth" - a vaguely-worded charge that has been repeatedly used to convict dissenters since the start of nationwide protests over the mandatory headscarf rule in October 2022.
Iran executed eight men in cases related to those protests but rights groups argue that the surge in executions on all charges is aimed at instilling fear in the wider population.
Executions in Saudi Arabia remained at a high level in 2023, with 172 people put to death, mostly for murder or terror offences, including six women.
Decline in the US: There were 24 executions in the United States in 2023, up from 18 in 2022, but well below the peak of 98 executions reached in 1999.
Texas carried out the most executions in 2024 - eight - with Florida, which resumed executions after a lengthy pause under Republican governor Ron DeSantis, second with six.
This year saw a grim first, when convicted murderer Kenneth Smith was put to death in Alabama using nitrogen gas, a method that causes suffocation and which has been likened by the United Nations to "torture".
Retreat in Africa also: The only country in sub-Saharan Africa to use the death penalty in 2023 was Somalia, where executions tripled to 38.
Courts in the fragile Horn of Africa nation, which has faced a 17-year insurgency at the hands of the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab group and is also battling militants from the Islamic State group, regularly hand down the death sentence for terrorism offences.
Around three-quarters of African countries have either abolished the death penalty in law or in practice.
