In 2024, Amnesty International recorded a total of 1518 executions in 15 countries, which was 32% higher than in 2023. This statistic does not include the number of executions in China, as the number of executions in China is confidential. Obtaining statistics from other countries such as North Korea and Vietnam has also been difficult, which could affect the accuracy of this statistic.

According to the report of Amnesty International, about 90% of these figures belong to only three countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. However, if the number of executions in China, Afghanistan, Syria, and North Korea were revealed, it could change the statistics in this table.

Out of 195 countries that are members of the United Nations, in 2024, 51 countries (26%) have the death penalty in their laws and have carried it out; 23 countries (12%) still have it in their laws but do not practice it; 9 countries (5%) have reduced it to exceptional cases such as wartime conditions; and 112 countries (57%) have completely abolished it.

Among Iran’s neighbors, countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan still have and carry out the death penalty, while Turkey, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia have abolished it by law. Countries in the southern Persian Gulf region also still have the death penalty in their laws. Execution has been abolished in Europe and Oceania, and most executions take place in the central belt of the earth, while countries in the southern and northern latitudes are less likely to witness executions.

Among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, only the United States and Japan have the death penalty. Of the 65 countries with the highest rankings in human development indicators, 71% have abolished this punishment. However, Singapore, which ranks highest in the human development index, still carries out the death penalty. Therefore, relying solely on the development index may be misleading in terms of the death penalty.

Among Islamic countries, the death penalty is still legal and carried out in over 80% of cases, with only 10% of countries having abolished it. Various reasons exist for countries to still have this punishment in their laws but not carry it out, such as societal, historical, or lack of necessity. In some Islamic countries, the death penalty only exists in name in their laws to avoid being seen as non-Islamic by society, while the government’s efforts are focused on not implementing it.

The justification of many countries for preserving the legal punishment of execution is its greater deterrent effect. The debate over the deterrent effect is beyond the scope of this discussion, but in brief, it can be said that on one hand, proponents of deterrence believe that the severity of punishment can prevent crimes, while opponents consider it invalid by examining the crime rates in countries with and without execution. However, it is possible that in developed societies, the crime rate is lower with or without execution compared to developing or less developed societies. Also, considering execution for different crimes varies in different countries. For example, in Iran, crimes against life are divided into two categories of execution and retribution and are applied to a range of crimes, from drug trafficking to murder.

Execution methods are also diverse. However, the most common ones are hanging, shooting (single, multiple, or firing squad), lethal injection, electric chair, gas chamber, beheading, and stoning. The implementation of each of these methods may vary in different countries depending on tradition or religious beliefs, but usually two or more methods are used. Hanging and stoning are commonly used in Islamic countries, beheading with a guillotine, despite its fame, is obsolete and is only reported in Saudi Arabia with a sword. The use of gas chambers, lethal injection, and the electric chair is more prevalent in the United States.

According to Article 436 of the Islamic Penal Code approved in 2013, retribution must be carried out in customary ways that inflict the least harm on the murderer. The regulations for implementing life deprivation punishments only mention hanging as a method and do not address other possible methods. However, the symbolic nature of this article still allows for the use of other methods. Additionally, although stoning has not been reported in Iran for years, it is still included in the regulations approved in 2019.