This image released by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services shows the electric chair at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, Neb., April 3, 2007.Mikael Karlsson/The Associated Press
Fewer countries used capital punishment and fewer people were sentenced to death last year but more executions were carried out in 2011, Amnesty International reports.
The humanitarian group's annual review documents a continuing global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty but also shows a more polarized world where fewer countries are killing, but those who did carried out more executions.
"Although the number of countries using the death penalty has decreased, we noted a sharp rise in executions in the Middle East during 2011," AI's report says.
The report says 676 executions were officially reported in 2011, compared with 527 the previous year.
Increases in judicial killings were recorded in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, though thousands of executions are believed to have been carried out in secret in China.
Amnesty International also said figures for Iran might actually be twice the reported 68 death sentences carried out last year.
In China, the government eliminated executions for 13 types of offences, mostly white-collar crimes, but expanded the application of the death penalty to other wrongdoings, such as deceiving someone to donate their organs or selling harmful food.
China says it has reduced its use of capital punishment but figures remain a state secret and AI believes thousands are executed annually.
In the Middle East, "initial hopes that [the Arab Spring]would also lead to positive changes with regard to the death penalty have yet to be realized," the report said.
Saudi Arabia executed 82 people last year, three times the 27 death penalties it carried out in 2010.
The 82 executed included 28 foreigners, mostly Asian or African migrant workers.
Iran is also notable, AI said, because it is the only country to execute minors or people convicted for offences such as sodomy, "spreading corruption on earth" and apostasy.
"Excluding China, Iran is the only country where Amnesty International confirms hundreds of executions every year," the report says.
AI said a minimum of 360 people were executed last year in Iran, a 42 per cent increase from the 252 judicial killings of 2010.
Iranian public executions are often carried out by hanging from construction cranes, prompting the Japanese company Tadano to stop selling its machines to Iran.
The report also noted that the United States remains the only G8 country to carry out executions, including on an inmate diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Countries with the highest reported number of executions in 2011
China: Thousands – more people than the rest of the world put together.
Iran: At least 360 (at least 252 the previous year)
Saudi Arabia: At least 82 (at least 27 the previous year)
Iraq: At last 68 (at least one the previous year)
United States: 43 (46 the previous year)
Yemen: At least 41 (at least 53 the previous year)
North Korea: At least 30 (at least 60 the previous year)
Somalia: 10 (at least eight the previous year)
(Source: Amnesty International)
Tu Thanh Ha