Accra: Executions in 2025 soared to the highest figure recorded by Amnesty International since 1981, with 2,707 people executed across 17 countries, revealed the latest annual report from the human rights organization on the global use of the death penalty. According to Amnesty International, the staggering rise recorded in the report "Death Sentences and Executions 2025," was due to a handful of governments determined to rule by fear. Iranian authorities, the main drivers behind the spike, executed at least 2,159 people, more than double its 2024 figure. Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia raised its execution tally to at least 356, using the death penalty extensively for drug-related offenses. Executions in Kuwait almost tripled, while they nearly doubled in Egypt, Singapore, and the United States of America. Overall, executions rose by 78%, after at least 1,518 executions were recorded in 2024. The 2025 total does not include the thousands of executions that Amnesty International believes continued to be carried out in China, which remained the world's lead executioner. This alarming spike in the use of the death penalty is due to a small, isolated group of states willing to carry out executions at all costs, despite the continued global trend towards abolition. From China, Iran, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia to Yemen, Kuwait, Singapore, and the USA, this minority is using the death penalty to instill fear, crush dissent, and show the strength of state institutions over disadvantaged and marginalized communities, said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General. The resurgence of highly punitive approaches in the war on drugs drove efforts to expand the use of the death penalty. This was reflected in the number of executions, with close to half of all known executions recorded for drug-related offenses in countries like China, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. Algeria, Kuwait, and the Maldives made legislative efforts to expand the scope of the death penalty to include drug-related offenses. Th e government of Burkina Faso adopted a draft bill that included reinstating the death penalty for offenses such as high treason, terrorism, and acts of espionage, while the authorities in Chad established a commission to review matters related to the death penalty, including its reinstatement. While executions surged, executing countries remain an isolated minority. China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, USA, Viet Nam, and Yemen are the same 10 countries known to have carried out executions every year in the last five years and have consistently shown disregard for safeguards established under international human rights law and standards. Four countries resumed executions last year, bringing the total number of executing countries to 17. Progress was made elsewhere around the world, demonstrating hope is stronger than fear. No executions or death sentences were recorded in Europe and Central Asia. For the 17th consecutive year, the USA was the only country in the Americas to execute p eople, with close to half of all US executions carried out in Florida. Executions in Sub-Saharan Africa were confined to Somalia and South Sudan. Afghanistan was the only country in South Asia to pursue executions; Singapore and Viet Nam were the only countries known to do so in Southeast Asia. Tonga was the only country in the Pacific to retain the death penalty in law. When Amnesty International started its work against the death penalty in 1977, only 16 countries had abolished it. Today, that number has risen to 113. Against a backdrop of predatory behaviors, some countries took steps demonstrating that global abolition is within reach. Authorities in Viet Nam abolished the death penalty for eight offenses, while Gambia abolished it for murder, treason, and other offenses. In a historic move, the Governor of Alabama granted clemency to Rocky Myers, the first clemency granted to a Black person on death row in the state. In Lebanon and Nigeria, bills were introduced to abolish the death penalty, while the Constitutional Court of Kyrgyzstan declared attempts to reintroduce the death penalty as unconstitutional. With human rights under threat around the world, millions continue to fight against the death penalty each year. Total abolition is possible if the global community stands strong against the isolated few.