Iran ranks 1st as the world's top executor

Executions worldwide rose in 2021 compared to the previous year, Amnesty International revealed Tuesday in its annual report on the death penalty.

Amnesty International report says at least 579 executions were known to have been carried out with a 20% increase on the previous year. Iran accounted for the biggest portion of this rise. It put to death at least 314 people, compared with 246 in 2020.

This figure does not reflect the many death sentences that were believed to have been imposed in Iran, the report says.

Amnesty criticized Iran for apparently using capital punishment as a tool of state repression. In Iran, 19% of those executed belonged to the Baluch minority, who make up just 5% of the population.

More than 72 percent of executions in Iran are not reported by the government or judicial body, which they call “secret” executions (Amnesty International, 9 April 2019).

Amnesty's annual death penalty report says Iran's highest known figure since 2017 was due in part to a more than five-fold increase in drug-related executions to 132, from 23 in 2020.

The rights group calls this a "flagrant violation of international law, which prohibits use of the death penalty for crimes other than those involving intentional killing".

Historically, execution has been used by dictatorships as a tool for intimidation and subjugation of the people. Iran for 40 years is a country which is held several records in terms of numbers of executions.

Because of government censorship and the prohibition of the activities of independent human rights groups in Iran, it is not possible to report a precise and complete fashion about the human rights situation, especially executions in Iran.

According to international institutions, Iran has the highest rate of executions per capita globally. According to the annual report by Amnesty International, Iran still ranks first in the world in executions.